Mercs
by kakkn
Summary: In a realm where peace is more common than war, those who profit from war are unwanted. Still there are always those who will pay to dirty someone else's hands instead of their own. When a infamous band of young mercenaries takes on what they think is a cut and dry job they get faced with a choice, become the heroes they've never been or watch their world be plunged into darkness.
1. Prelude

**A/N: This is a new short fic that I've decided to write. It takes place over four days so I believe there will only be four chapters not counting this one. I hope everyone enjoys!**

 **Thirteen years ago...**

"Once there were four kingdoms representing the four cardinal points of the compass. The North, lands filled with mountains and valleys, watched over by wolves who devoured those they thought unwelcome or unworthy. The South, lands of sharp sea cliffs and salt flats filled with un-tillable soil, home to spiders and birds never satisfied with their lot in life. The West, lands of forests and fields, cared for by dogs and craved by cats. The East, lands of gentle seas and rolling hills of forest greens, dwelled upon by humans but watched over by powers unseen.

"For many centuries the kingdoms lived in relative peace. But like all good things peace never lasts. War broke out in the West and the North. Dogs fought against cats, wolves were against wolves. In the end both territories were divided. The North split into the Mountain Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Valley. The West was harder to divide but a compromise was made. Land nearest the middle of the realm was given to the defeated Cats to create what is called the Middle Kingdom. The East, however, lived on in peace for many generations. Some of the humans from there often moved to the other kingdoms during times of war to fight for what they thought right or in times of peace so they could enjoy the other kingdoms.

"But the South, was very different. The birds and spiders did not war against each other. No, they fought against the other kingdoms, wanting to rule all of the realm as their own. Power hungry, they perfomed sinful deeds that civilized society would never accept. It became clear to them that what they needed were those who would do the deeds but remain in the shadows. Men with no power and nothing too lose. The first mercenaries were born out of dark times during the Great Wars. Those with skills for killing, kidnapping, and many horrible things in between, those with a thirst for war. It was these men who were used to secure weapons for victory no matter what the weapons might have been.

"Finally the other kingdoms had no choice but to stand together against the one and it's mercenaries. Eventually the South was defeated by the joined forces of the realm. Tekkei, queen of the birds was given rule over the southern lands. After nearly a hundred years of ruling the queen recently fell ill leaving the Southern kingdom to be ruled by the young Princess Abi. Only time will tell if she can keep the peace the same as her mother." The queen smiled brightly as she brushed her daughter's soft dark hair from the child's face.

"Mother, what of the mercenaries?" The child asked, the small bit of fear in her voice was out weighed by her curiosity.

"They were banished. Sent out of the realm to the desert. And though new mercenaries spring up from all the kingdoms now a days they are equally banished when the truth is discovered." The queen explained with a stern look in her brown eyes. "Though our lands boarder their's you must never go there, Sweety Heart."

"Why?" The young girl asked with all the innocence of a child.

"You are of the forest and these lands need you, never stray." Pulling the covers more tightly around the child, the queen bent forward and lightly kissed her daughter forehead. "Sleep now, dream of fairies and spirits that dance in our forest when the moon is high."

Giggling at her mother the young girl snuggled down deeper into her bed to do just that. Silently Daphne slipped from her daughter's chamber, flittering magic through the room dimming candles enough to leave the room in a golden glow and moon lit shadow.

"She is always curious about dangerous things." Daphne said softly to her husband who stood outside their princess' door.

"Just like her mother." The king chuckled gentle as he wrapped his arms around his wife pulling her tight to his chest. "As I recall you couldn't leave one lost, human, male alone when he was in your forest.

Daphne hugged her husband in return, laying her head on his chest with a smile. "Come dear, the festival will begin soon."

 **A/N: OK there's the prelude! So I'm a bit stuck on where this story is going but I have a bit done and though "why not just go ahead and put it out there."**

 **Please read! Review if you like. The actual chapter one will be up tomorrow or the next day! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well here we go. For those who read the prelude, yes this will be a short fic, yes there will be romance. To know more you will have to read.**

 **To clear up any questions that will come about I'm going to explain somethings up front. The world this takes place in is almost like the world of sword art online but this is NOT a crossover, I just really like that type of fantasy world. It's old timey with modern conveniences. There is technology and magic but it's not a world of the future, it's more open spaces with out power lines, cell towers, or paved roads. Also there will be many creatures of myth not just demons so don't let your imaginations be limited. I don't know how well that clears things up but if there are other questions I will do my best to answer them.** **Thank you to everyone for stopping by.**

 **Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.  
**

 **Chapter one**

Thirteen years later...

The hotel was like all the others before, on another seedy street, in yet another shady part of another city. The contractor was like all the others, some sniveling good for nothing who didn't want his or her hands dirty.

As usual, they were trying to hide who they were by sending a lackey, knowing after the first payment was exchanged the lackey would be killed. This time the messenger was a strict looking young man. Neat, short hair, every black strand in place, stuffy suit buttoned up tightly. He sat with his back pin straight in the grungy chair. Acrossed from him sat the mercenary sent to handle the negotiations. The merc wore a scowl on his face as he stared at the messenger. Unlike the other male his black hair was long, pulled into a tail at his neck and falling the length of his back. His clothes were nothing special, an anyone could buy it leather jacket with a black zipper hoody underneath and relax fit denim jeans that were nothing extravagant.

The merc kept his face neutral as the messenger in front of him spoke. It wasn't unusual for the help to give him history lessons. Some how mercenaries had gotten a rep as being too stupid to know the world around them. But since he killed them in the end, he always humored them by listening to their "superiority".

"There are many kingdoms, large and small, scattered throughout the realm." The messenger droned on. "Power between them has always shifted at least until the past fifty years. The West and the Middle Kingdom hold the most power, being the tightest bounded allies, we have no concern with them. The Northern Mountain and the North Valley hold nothing for us either."

"So that leaves the Eastern Sea or her sister kingdom the Eastern Forest." The young merc said plainly as he stayed hunched forward in the nasty lounge chair across from the messenger.

"What makes you believe we aren't from one of those kingdoms?" The man asked shifting in his chair a bit.

"Same reason I know you ain't a rep for the fucking desert people." Was his response as he watched the man in front of him carefully. "The East is the most peaceful region in all the realm. Even though they aren't the most powerful, the resources both sit on are enough to start a war over. Enough for the Southern Kingdom to seek help from those like me."

"Well informed aren't you." The little man smarted off with a slight glare.

"Couldn't do my job if I wasn't, could I?" The merc lipped as he leaned back in his chair a bit. "So what is it your boss wants exactly?"

Reaching slowly into his jacket the other man pulled out a photo and handed it to the mercenary. "The woman in the photo is Princess Kikyo of the Eastern Sea. She is the heir to the throne in her kingdom. In three days she will be traveling by private car to visit her cousin in the Forest kingdom for the season."

"Dead or taken?" He asked folding the photo and putting it in his jean pocket without looking at it.

"Taken. My employer needs her for negotiations." The man stood signaling his wish to end their business.

"Uh-uh-uh." Knocking his finger from side to side the mercenary smirked. "Payment."

"Ah, yes, the agreed amount." Showing the screen of his phone to the other man, the messenger waited for a nod of agreement, when he got it he sent the funds by wire transfer.

Smirking the young mercenary pulled out his own phone to check his account. Once the money showed up he locked his phone and stood himself. "Thank you very much."

Before the well dressed messenger could take his next step the merc pulled a blade with his right hand, from his left inside waist band, and stabbed the guy in the heart giving the blade a small twist. No muss, no fuss. Pushing the messenger back into the chair he had occupied the other man walked into the bathroom to wash his hands and the knife. After both were clean he wiped down the bathroom with the towel on the rack he had used to dry his hands, then he walked over to his chair. Wiping away any possible prints while checking the room for any others he might have left. Once he could find no other trace of himself he lifted the man's phone with the towel and pocketed it. A quick wipe to the door and then he was gone. Slipping into the night, not standing out, not trying to blend in, he became just another forgettable face in a forgettable neighborhood.

He walked about a mile through the empty, dirty side streets with the knife wrapped in the towel until he reached the river. Making sure he wasn't seen he tossed both in. Following the river another two miles he cleared all information of himself from the phone before mesmerizing the only other number in it. After turning the phone off he chucked it to the middle of the river as well.

Walking back towards the main road he hailed the first cab he saw. "City park." He told the driver as he climbed in.

There was no answer only the hum of the engine as they headed to a nicer side of town. The drive through the city was dim, filled with the orange glow of street lights and the yellow flashes of other head lights. A half hour later they arrived at City Park and the driver gave his shady fair the total for the ride. Paying quickly the young man shut the cab door and the driver took off becoming just another pair of red lights moving in the dark.

The young man wasn't surprised to see that the park was still well lit. It was still early enough that there were young couples wandering about. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be similar to them. A normal man living a normal life. A girlfriend, maybe a wife? Kids? No, probably not, he couldn't really stand snot nosed brats. Maybe that would be different if they were his own? In the end there was no point in wondering. He had no plan on giving up the life he was living. He liked the thrill of danger. The cause and effect he had on more than one person. It was a rush, a power trip, and he was addicted just as bad as any junky. He couldn't get out and he was alright with that.

Pulling his phone he dialed the number for a private car service. After arranging to be picked up at the south gate of the park in ten minutes he began his walk in the appropriate direction. Spotting a homelss man on his way the youth gave up his jackets. There was a chance there would be evidence on them but the sleeping man would never know how he had come by them and there was no one near the guy to tell the tale.

Walking on, the trees, the lights, the people all fell into the back ground as he began planning out the up coming mission. Ten minutes on the dot found him at the gate and a black town car waiting. The driver exited and made his way to the back when he stepped next to the rear passenger door.

"Mr. Takahashi." The driver greeted with a bow. "It is a pleasure to be of service to you again."

"Thank you." Inuyasha replied in return as he slipped into the back of the car. "Musashi's." Was all the instructions he gave the driver before they pulled away from the park.

In the dark back seat Inuyasha pulled off the beaded necklace he had kept hidden under his shirt. Instantly he was changed back into the half demon he truly was.

'The concealment charm was wonderful when on the job.' Inuyasha thought as he rolled the beads and carved wooden fangs through his fingers. Keeping his enemies from knowing his true identity made it easier to keep his family safe and uninvolved with his life style. Luckily many demons used the charms for various reasons and this particular car service was an employer of many such demons all through the realm. So entering as a dark haired human and exiting as a silver haired hanyou wouldn't raise any questions, though the ears did throw people off sometimes.

The trip to Musashi's was relatively quick. At the hotel the driver again opened the door for Inuyasha after parking under the awning. The hanyou stepped out of the car and into the well lit entrance of the hotel. The employees of the hotel were accustom to his presence. Musashi's hotel chains were in all but two kingdoms. They were the places most chosen by the rich and royal for the employee service and the privacy provided. Inuyasha stayed in them for that very reason. He and his brother's family were regulars when they stayed in the Middle Kingdom. The domain was ruled by the Panthers. Even though their ancesters had once been the enemies of his ancesters, they now had the fiercest alliance in all of the realm. There was still bickering but Inuyasha drummed that up to Toran and Sesshomaru's 'winning' personalities.

At the back of the gilded lobby was a grand stair case and an ornate glass elevator. Inuyasha stepped into the elevator and rode up to the 50th floor. There were three imperial sweats on the floor. The door to his room was marked I-3 with the "do not clean" sign hanging on the handle. It was his only sign that his team was inside. Sliding his key card, Inuyasha waited for the green light, indicating the door was unlocked, then turned the handle and walked in. Inside the room he closed the door and quickly slid the extra locks in place. Room service trays were every where and loud ass music blasting threw the room, exactly how princes were thought to act.

His team was made up of himself and two others. Koga Okami, a wolf demon prince, a.k.a. The Wolf's Howl. Job detail- recon and recovery, he also specialized in fire arms and explosives. There hadn't been a gun made yet that the wolf couldn't handle and if there had he probably blew it up. It was his speed that earned him his name. The wind that moved around him as he ran literally howled. It was a terrifying sound to any well informed prey.

Miroku Kaze, a Buddhist monk, a.k.a The Cursed One. Job detail- negotiations, seduction, and computer specialist. When there was a need for undercover surveillance he was their guy, though the lech had to be kept on a tight leash. His right hand was his secret weapon, a cursed void in his palm that sucked anything inside.

Last himself, Inuyasha Takahashi, half-dog demon prince, a.k.a The Steel Fang. Job detail- master mind, merciless blade weilder, and broker of illegal information, when it suited him. His best blade happened to have been forged from his father's fang and contained demonic energy.

He and his team worked as mercenaries. Having a range of skills and backgrounds gave them an edge most in the field didn't have. Inuyasha came from a background of wealth and privilege as the second prince of the Western Kingdom. His half brother had been the crown prince until their father's death. Shortly after leaving Sesshomaru the Lord of the lands, Inuyasha's mother followed the great king to the netherworld. Inuyasha was then the crown prince until his brother's first son and heir was born. Free from the spotlight of crown prince, Inuyasha decided on a course that would bring him money and adventure. Two years later he found himself face to face with a monk who was a little less than pure.

Miroku grew up in a gambling house in a desert village. His mother was a show girl and didn't know who his father was. Around the age of three he began showing spiritual powers, around the age of eight a wandering monk found Miroku and told him about his father and what had happened to him. Soon after the void developed in Miroku's hand. The monk offered to take Miroku with him but the kid wasn't ready to leave his mother. Staying on at the gambling house Miroku learned a variety of tricks from his mom's flavor of the month. Slide of hand, haggling, powers of persuasion, and much more. All tools he found useful once he set off on his own. It wasn't long after that he conned the wrong half demon. Only the arrival of another prince shifted attention away from Miroku saving his life.

Koga came from an equally wealthy background, crown prince of the Northern Mountain Kingdom. His was a mountainious people who prided themselves on war and defense. Koga understood the need to defend their home but grew restless as he grew older. Once he learned his father had betrothed him to a young female wolf from the Valley Kingdom, he left the mountain. After a year of wondering he was on his way home when he ran into a very recognizable prince who was threatening to run a monk through for stealing. It hadn't been that Koga cared, it was that he had spent the year trying to get a real fight out of commoners only to have them realize he was a royal and run away. He knew prince Inuyasha would give him a real fight, the hanyou had a reputation for it.

They were skilled in many fields and could blend in almost anywhere. Thanks to Miroku's powers the two with demon blood had a variety of concealment charms to make them appear as different blends of hanyous or even human.

"We got a new party to crash." Inuyasha announced. Even in a hotel such as this, even being their true-selves, none of them trusted they weren't being watched.

"Another party, huh? I was hoping for a tournament." Koga whined from the couch as he flipped through the channels, on the flat screen, not really caring about what was on. They had been doing a lot of kidnapping lately and he wanted to start a war! Something they could really get involved in.

"Calm down, Koga. I'm sure this party will be better than the last." Miroku said as he walked in from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands drying his hair.

"What the hell are you getting ready for?" Inuyasha asked as he threw himself into a chair next to the couch.

"Why a date, my dear fellow! I have made arrangements with an exotic beauty of fairier sex." Miroku boasted as he walked into one of the adjoining bedrooms. "Plus did you really think I'd stay the night here with you two when we are in the Middle Kingdom?"

"Exotic beauty got a name there monk?" Koga asked looking over the couch where his team mate had been.

"Why yes! Now what was it?" Miroku paused for a moment as he stepped out from the bedroom with his jeans on. "Ayu...no, Ami...no, Ayame..."

"What did you say?!" Koga growled sitting up straight on the couch.

"Hahaha! You should see your face!" Miroku laughed as he held his gut. "It's Princess Abi of the Southern Cliffs. She called herself Angelic, but I recognized her."

"Wouldn't be good at your job if you didn't." Inuyasha snickered from his chair.

"Yes, being a lady's man is quite a job." Miroku stepped back into the room to fetch his shirt.

"I meant being a lech!" Inuyasha shouted as Koga started laughing.

"What do you think your desert rose would say about your date?" Koga egged as the two canines howled it up in laughter.

Miroku calmly walked out of the room, adjusting the cuffs of his dress shirt before adding a glove to his left hand that matched the one on his right. The leather was embroibered with sutra symbols that kept the void dormant without a rosary. The left glove was to simply avoid suspicion as to who he was. "I don't think you have room to question me on that, Koga, seeing how you left your betrothed and have her waiting in the wings. And you, Inuyasha! You never have any relationship longer than one night, no matter where we are." Miroku stated as he buttoned up his shirt.

"Feh!" Inuyasha spat turning his attention to the tv. "I don't need to waste my time getting my head turned by some skirt."

"Whatever." Miroku said slipping on his shoes. "So what's this party and how soon."

Inuyasha pulled the picture from his pocket and handed it to the monk. "Three days, Eastern Forest, we are going to borrow the party favor."

"Looks good." The monk said looking at the photo. The young woman had long black hair frozen about her face where a breeze had blown it up right as the picture was snapped. Her eyes were closed to protect them from stray hairs, her thick lashes laying on pale cheeks. Before handing it to Koga, Miroku finished mesmerizing her face. "I'll be back in the morning." With that said Miroku left to meet his date.

"I'm out too." Koga said handing the photo back to Inuyasha. He pulled a ring from his pocket and slide it on his left middle finger. Instantly his tail and pointed ears disappered, his long black hair faded to brown and his fangs became blunted teeth.

"Is that how you came in here?" Inuyasha asked.

"Yea, I sniffed out some scouts from my home earlier. Better to blend in." The human wolf shrugged as he slipped his shoes on and headed out the door.

Inuyasha got it. Whatever was waiting for the wolf prince, he wasn't ready to face the music just yet. He could understand that, Inuyasha himself had no desire to be at the Western palace with his brother watching Sesshomaru and his loving family.

 **A/N: So I know there's not a lot going on in this one but I cut it and am editing the other half right after this. The updates won't all be this quick just so everyone knows. Thanks for the love!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I will be passing back and forth between using Inuyasha, Koga, and Miroku's alias' and their real names. Mainly cause I want to. Also the language gets a bit crude so if anyone has a delicate disposition about language check the rating it is T. I will not be offended if you don't want to read my story for that reason :) Alright on we go.**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter two**

Three days later Inuyasha and his team were hidden in the trees along the only road that lead into the Eastern Forest Kingdom's capital city, Dryades. The city was named for the nymphs that supposedly lived in the forest around it. Intel Koga had gathered said that the princess' private car would come through there and head straight up the road into the castle. The men didn't have to wait long to find out if the intel was right. A sleek black car crested the hill, the early morning sun gleamed off wind shield. Inuyasha signaled the other two from his position in the branches above when the car entered the cover of the trees. As the car neared their hiding places, the plan was set into motion. Koga gave a devistating kick to a large tree near the road. The tree cracked in angry protest before falling onto the road. It landed directly in the path of the car forcing the driver to slam on the brakes. Koga signalled back before he and Miroku changed positions.

As expected there was no movement from the car for a moment. Then three armed guards exited. One from the front passenger, one from the rear passenger, and the last from the driver rear. They held their guns at the ready as they began securing the area. While their attention was around the fallen tree Inuyasha slipped his mask in place, then dropped to the ground and slid into the back of the car.

"Who are you?" A startled femal voice cried as he slipped in. The question was followed by a shreik of surprise when he hit the driver over the back of the head with the hilt of a long blade knife.

"Now, Princess, it'd make everything go smoother if you'd cooperate." Inuyasha smirked behind his wolf shaped kabuki mask as the flustered girl shifted her eyes back and forth between him and his blade.

"You'll be sorry." She said as her storm grey eyes met his with little fear in them.

Inuyasha leaned back in the seat resting his back against the door. He openly racked his eyes up and down her form which she instantly bristled at. She was as pretty as her picture, that was easy to see. She sat prim and perfect despite the situation she was in. The robin egg blue sun dress she wore draped over her body perfectly and flowed over the tops of her knees. He did notice that she was bare foot, which seemed strange for a human princess. Before she had a chance to say anything the driver door opened and the unconcious man was dumped out.

"All clear!" A cheerful male voice called as a head of shoulder length dark hair popped into the car. "Well don't you look worth the trouble. How's about we keep this one, Boss?"

The princess' eyes widened as she stared at the new male in a red and white wolf kabuki mask.

"Calm down there oh cured one. No bounty, no booty, you know the rules." Inuyasha said mockingly as the passenger door opened and another male slid in.

"I don't know, she looks like plenty of booty to me." The new male said earning a round of laughs from the other men.

"Princess let me introduce you to The Cursed One," Inuyasha said pointing to the man sliding into the driver's seat. He flashed the princess a smile as he put the car in reverse, "and The Wolf's Howl." He said pointing to the second male in a matching mask.

"So that would make you The Steel Fang?" The princess asked in an almost mocking voice before she turned to look out the window.

"Well, well, well." The Steel Fang chimmed in amuzement. "Someone is very informed."

"You're horrible deeds have earned their way into after dinner talks." She answered off handedly as she watched the scenery glide passed her window.

"Conversation that men are privy too, not women." Even though her face was turned Inuyasha could see her stiffen at his statement. "We have ourselves a nosy little princess, boys." He mocked earning another glare from her storm grey eyes. "Who is it you watch when no one is looking?"

"I can't imagine that my private life has anything to do with your job. So the chit chat is not needed." The princess said glaring at the masked man sharing her back seat.

"We're here." The Cursed One stated ending the bantering in the back seat. The Wolf's Howl and The Cursed One exited the car to secure the area. As the car filled with silence The Steel Fang and the princess stared at each other.

"Look, I don't want to harm you-"

"That's a surprise! Then what do you want?" The princess demanded.

"It's not our job to harm you!" Inuyasha growled out. "Stay in line and this can be painless!" Looking at the storming fury that woman across from him held at bay, Inuyasha could say her photo hadn't done her justice. She had looked so cold, almost uncaring about whatever had been happening when it was taken. But as she sat here pissed off there was so much warmth to her, she could have set the car on fire. "Just behave like a good little princess, ok?"

The princess sent the masked man across from her a glare as her door opened. She slid her feet towards the door as she accepted the hand offered her. She exited the car with all the grace she had been taught, but the second both feet cleared the car she ran.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he exited the car. When she hadn't slipped her shoes on it was easy to figure what she had planned, but damn it was annoying. The irritated leader made his way to the rear of the vehicle where he was joined by his team mates. They watched for a few moments as the princess ran with her skirt hiked up above her knees to keep it from tangling in the taller weeds.

"Spirited." Miroku mused as he admired her legs running across the grass. She was trying to make it to the other side of the small clearing where she could hide in the trees, but he knew the being next to him wouldn't let that happen.

"Yea, just fucking great." Inuyasha grumbled as he sprinted off after her. Even with his charm in place he was faster than any human male so catching one female was no trouble for him. She had just reached the first tree at the edge when he grabbed her around her waist. The princess reached out as if the tree would save her but he never let her hand touch it. Whirling her around he had them facing the car once again. "That's not good behavior, wench."

"Let me go you rouge!" She yelled as he lifted her feet off the ground and began moving them forward. "I command you release me at once!" The princess wriggled and pounded her firsts against his arm, though it had little effect. Next thing she knew, she had been dropped to the ground. "Ow!"

The Steel Fang bend in front of the woman now rubbing her ass in protest to the pain. Reaching in his back, he saw her freeze. "Glad I have your attention again." Pulling white plastic from his back pocket he roughly grabbed her hands, quickly he slipped zip cuffs over them and fastened her wrists togather. "You had your chance."

"Why should I make your job easier for you!?" She shouted towards his face.

"Wench, you are too loud." The merc shouted back at her.

"How dare you! I am a princess not some common bar maid." She continued in there shouting match.

"Well, when you want to act like a royal again I'll address you as such. Now come on." The Steel Fang pulled the angry female to her feet by the cuffs and started leading her back to the car. However after a few paces the princess stopped walking. Unfazed he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

"Why I never-" She squealed as she tried to shift off his shoulder.

"I'm sure you haven't." He interrupted as he walked on completely unbothered by her added weight or wiggling. "We aren't your polite princes who drink whiskey and smoke with your father after dinner. Don't take our generosity for granted again." Setting the princess down next to his team, The Steel Fang fixed her with a glare of his own. "I promise those horrible deeds you over heard were only what could be shared in polite conversation. We are much worse than that."

While he had been dealing with the princess his team had uncovered a hard top, tan jeep. They had hidden the jeep with cut branches before setting up to ambush the princess's car. Giving a nod to the wolf, Inuyasha walked over to the driver door while the woman was loaded by the other two.

As they drove off an explosion followed. The car they had been in had been wiped clean and then disposed of for good measure along with the cut branches. People would follow, that was a given, but they would be far from both Eastern territories by then. Their destination was territory unclaimed by any kingdom. It wasn't often they used it for missions but he felt this was an exception. "Cursed One, call your Slayer." The Steel Fang said to the man in the passenger seat. "We are coming for a visit."

Miroku's eyes sparkled with delight. "One room?"

"Make it two." Turning his eyes to the rear view mirror Inuyasha said. "I'll be bunking alone with the princess." He watched with delight as fear danced over the face of the woman in the backseat.

"Don't worry." The Wolf's Howl whispered. "He only like fighters. Oh, wait..." The male chuckled as the woman gulped. Inuyasha smirked over hearing the wolf's taunts. Yea, she was a faighter but he wanted nothing to do with her. The bitch was trouble, he could feel it in his bones. If scaring her would keep her in line until the hand of, then so be it.

Outside the window the world changed from the forest the princess knew so well to lonely roads she had never seen, to roads even less traveled than the previous ones they had been on. After about an hour the green she loved was gone. They entered the desert. The outlands that laid at the edge of the Eastern Forest and stretched to the edge of the salt flats in the Southern Kingdom. The desert belonged to anyone who didn't pledge loyalty to a kingdom but it was filled with people who had come from every kingdom. The worse among them bandits, pirates, and mercenaries. All for profit bad guys and she was being driven into the thick of it.

The sun seemed to blaze in the desert unlike how it shone in the forest or shimmered on the sea. Hills of sand rose and fell. They were scattered about, everywhere the princess turned there was nothing but bronzed sand as they drove down a road she couldn't see. Hours passed and the sun moved relentlessly above them. Finally a small town came into view as they crested a dune.

"Well, Pincess Kikyo, this will be home sweet hom for a while." The Cursed One called over his shoulder while his gaze stayed glued on the town in front of them.

Melodious laughter filled the jeep gaining the attention of the males inside.

"What's so fucking funny?" Inuyasha demanded.

"The joke is on you, _Steel Fang_." She said wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm not Princess Kikyo. I am Kagome, princess of the Eastern Forest Kingdom."

Inuyasha slammed on the brakes as all heads turned to study the laughing princess.

"You've stolen the wrong royal." Kagome knew she shouldn't be laughing, in fact she wanted to melt into a pool of tears. Whatever time she would have had to live if they had meant to take her was now gone. Surely they would kill her immediately now that they new she wasn't her cousin. Still the look in that cocky jerks eyes had been nearly priceless. Nearly, the price she'd pay would be her life.

Kagome couldn't believe the day she was having, on top of the week she had already had. First Kikyo had fell ill and demanded a visit from her. A fool's errand no matter how you looked at it. Kagome wasn't even supposed to be out of the forest, it had been Kikyo's turn to visit her for a season. Then she had only been able to stay a half a week before the other princess took to fever and Kagome was sent home before she fell ill as well. Too ice the cake she had been mistakenly kidnapped, taken by some of the worse mercenaries in all the kingdoms.

Looking out of the tinted window her heart sank. They had left no note from what she saw and no one had made a ransom call with demands. Surely she'd have been dead no matter what but now she had no idea how much time was left.

Inuyasha turned around to face the road and stepped on the gas. Damn it all! They fucked up and big time. They needed out of sight to figure this shit out fast. The roads through the town were wide but crowded with people. It was slow going for the group to reach the far west side of the place. There, standing alone yet still surrounded by buildings of clay and nomad tents, was a tavern/inn called Jitaku. It translated to home away from home. The name was fitting since most of the people here were from somewhere else. He pulled around the back of the building and threw the jeep in park. Their's was just another dirt covered vehicle among many. Killing the engine they were plunged into silence. Inuyasha was nervous though he'd never admit it. As the nutorious Steel Fang he wasn't supposed to get nervous.

"Damn." He mumbled pulling the key from the ignition. "Throw the cloak on her and let's get the hell inside."

The other two said nothing as they watched their leader jump out of the jeep and light a smoke. The wolf reached behind the deat to grab a black hooded cloak.

"What's going to happen to me?" Kagome asked in a surprisingly steady voice.

"I'm not sure, Princess, this has never happened before." The Wolf's Howl answered honestly. "Just keep your head down until you're told. We might have taken you by mistake but if someone else here recognizes you...Trust me it wouldn't be a mistake on their part."

Kagome nodded as the man beside her lifted the hood to shadow her face. She understood what he was saying. These weren't called the bad lands by the courts for nothing. She sat still as large hands fastened the cloak around her neck so it would stay in place. "Any chance we can ditch these?" Kagome asked raising her wrists hopefully as she slipped her feet into her shoes that were on the floor.

"Doubt it." Was the only answer she got before her door opened and The Steel Fang yanked her out.

Having put his mask back in place, The Steel Fang glared at the woman before him for a moment before turning away. "Let's go." He said as much to her as to his men.

Kagome did her best to keep her face hidden but she had never seen a desert town before, or the desert at all. Even the ground beneath her feet was fascinating. It looked so dry and course. The sand moved and shifted under the weight of her walk. She wondered if it felt the same as the sand on the beached in her cousin's country but she imagined her captured wouldn't allow her to stop and feel it. When she did risk a glance or two around she found everything was brown like the ground. There were splashes of color here and there from cloth awnings draped over doorways or curtains blowing in windows.

"Head down." The man beside her growled and her gaze shifted to her feet once more.

The Steel Fang grumbled under his breath as he walked in front of the princess. The Wolf's Howl was next to her and The Cursed One walked behind her. Luckily it was a short walk from the jeep to the front of the tavern. He had never been so glad to see a bar in his life. That joy was short lived as he pushed open the swing doors and his eyes adjusted from the bright desert to the darker room. The place was packed. Watching every movement inside he and his men entered with their prize. The room looked up and fell silent, all eyes watching the small group carefully.

"Fuck off ya bastards!" Inuyasha growled out. The room listened for the most part. The patrons going back to what they had been doing before The Steel Fang had walked in. "Find the Slayer, Cursed One."

Miroku didn't need prompting as he left the group to search out the hostess.

Koga and Inuyasha moved the princess to an empty table near the back so the pair could watch the room.

"Sit down and don't speak." The Steel Fang told her as he helped her into a chair. "And I don't give a fuck what anyone says, don't you dare look up."

Kagome nodded. She was terrified of where she was and what could happen if she looked around. From the sounds of the place there were many men there who were, in all likely hood, just like The Steel Fang.

Watching her nod from under her hood Inuyasha hoped she meant it. Now would be the worse possible time for her to try and spite him. Without an onther moment to think trouble walked their way.

"New merchandise, Fang?" A man of average height with long dark hair that was braided down the length of his back called out. He and two others stopped close to the table. "Let's have a look. Maybe I'll be willing to pay your price if she looks good enough."

The man reached out to throw back the hood but the other merc grabbed his wrist before he could touch it. "This ones for private use. No sales today, Banks." Giving the wrist a squeeze to make sure his point got across he threw the other man's hand away.

"You're lying." The taller bald man said from behind Banks. He eyed the hooded figure with a lustful stare in his beady eyes. "You never keep good to yourself and if you did, why would you keep her hidden?"

"Renkotsu, how the hell would you know what I do or don't do with my dick?" The Steel Fang slowly pulled out a blade roughly the size of his palm. While pretenting to admire the weapon he continued, "As for why she's hidden," pointing the tip of the blade at the older man Inuyasha smiled though they couldn't see, "I wanted to save her from having to look at an ugly mug like yours."

"Why you little shit!" Renkotsu yelled as he moved forward to grab the younger merc. He was stopped by Banks out stretched arm before he could reach the table.

"No need to get nasty. Right, Fang?" The dark haired man asked as he kept his gaze on the blade that was out but also weary of the blades they couldn't see. "After all we've done plenty of good business before. We'll just have to talk when you're in a more sharing mood."

"Keh. That won't be with this one, so don't waste your breath." The Steel Fang said as he leaned back in his chair and began picking his human looking nails with the tip of the knife.

"Let's go boys." Banks said turning around. He smacked his hand against the chest of a still enraged Renkotsu. Anywere else he'd have let his brother fight it out but their little scene had already gotten too much attention for where they were.

Koga relaxed as the three walked back the way they'd came. "Lucky it was just the three and not the entire group."

"Don't I know it." Inuyasha said placing his blade back in the side holster he had pulled it from. "Where the hell is that fucking lech?" He cursed as he flagged over a waitress.

A girl in a low cut navy blue tank top and long flowing tan skirt walked over to their table. "What'll it be?"

"Three beers and a water." Inuaysha said grabbing the girls hand holding it palm up. He placed some cash in it and closed her fingers around it. "You can keep the change if you tell your boss and the lech that we're done waiting."

The poor girl paled noticably. "Yes, sir."

"Do you get off scaring people?" The princess muttered.

The Steel Fang shoed the girl away before glaring at the hood that hid their most recent problem. "I said no talking. You want me to feed you to those fucking men from earlier?" The princess shuddered under the black cloak, he was glad she understood the position they were in here.

The waitress came back with their drinks and set them down quickly. Once finished she started to walk off but The Steel Fang was faster, grabbing her arm before she could get away.

"The lech?" He questioned.

"On the way." The Cursed One called in a cheerful voice.

"Steel Fang, what have I told you about handling my employees like that?" A female voice asked in an annoyed tone as she stepped up to the table. She was tall, tanned, and toned, wearing faded jeans and a black tank top. She stood glaring at the mercenary with deep brown eyes. Her hair was long and brown but she had it pulled high into a pony tail so the weight wasn't on her back and neck. She was a powerful picture to be sure but what made her serious news was the belt of silver plated holy bullets and the side arm holstered to her hip and strapped to her leg.

Releasing the poor girl, who scurried away quickly, Inuyasha lifted the bottom of his mask quickly flashing the owner a cunning smirk. "No harm done, Sango."

The woman identified as Sango huffed, "If I let you do it, every rough hand that walks in here will think they can. Then my girls will never be safe.". Impatiently Sango plopped down in one of the empty chairs at the table. "Two rooms this time, huh?" She questioned as she eyed the cloaked figure. "If you brought trouble into my bar-"

A wad of cash landed on the table between them.

"You have nothing to worry about." Fang said smoothly though he knew she knew he was lying through his teeth.

Grabbing the cash, Sango stuffed down her shirt between her breast. "For my trouble you will be down a man tonight. The Cursed One has lost time to make up for."

Said Cursed One smiled to himself as he reached out to grope the attractive owner. She was faster though, smacking his hand away as she sent him a glare.

"You know the rules." She ground out as she tried not to clentch her teeth.

"Which rooms, San?" The Wolf's Howl asked as he rubbed his temple. He was over this day.

"Top floor, end of the hall, left side." Sango tossed two keys on the table as she stood up.

"Thanks." Steel Fang said grabbing the keys. "You really are a desert rose."

"Spare me the flattery, Fang. There had better not be a mess left for me to clean up when you're done." She eyed the hooded figure once more before leaving the table. Whoever the girl was, she wasn't her problem. Sango had enough trouble with a bar full of outlaws, she didn't have time for someone else's misfortune.

"Let's go." Fang demanded gripping the woman's elbow. Grabbing his beer he motioned to the water on the table. The Cursed One grabbed it along with his beer and the four made their way to the stairs at the far end of the bar.

Gauging the level of curiosity they were getting as they crossed the room, Fang determined they'd be getting a lot of bothersome knocking in about an hour. Climbing the well used stairs the group made their way to the end of the hall. There Fang checked the numbers on the keys and the ones on the doors. Deciding to bunk him and the princess farthest away he opened the last door in the hallway and the group filed in.

"Well, this is fun." Koga said as he threw himself into the arm chair to the far right of the door.

"Tell me somthing I don't know." Inuyasha said as he moved to towards the princess.

Kagome flinched when she saw a hand come near her face. Suddenly the hood was thrown back and everything was very bright to her sensitive eyes. "What is this place?"

"Best you don't know." The Steel Fang said as he undid the tie of the heavy fabric.

"Why?"

"For our protection." The Cursed One said plainly as he leaned against the locked door.

"Your protection? That's rich!" Kagome scolded.

"Keep your damn voice down, wench." Inuyasha cursed as he drew a small blade and cut her ties.

Rubbing her wrist she looked from one face to another until she had studied all three men. They were all similar in height and weight each with a head of dark hair falling in different lengths, but their masks did their job. She couldn't tell a thing about their faces. "What now?" She questioned softly as she sat down on the queen size bed.

"Now The Cursed One and The Wolf's Howl go secure their room." Fang said handing the wolf a key.

"And us?" Kagome asked.

"And us nothing. You're going to sit there, shut up and drink your water." He said harshly as he handed roughly Kagome the glass. "You ain't use to the desert, hate to see you dry out."

"Thank you." She said as she took a sip. But a sip turned into her chugging down the water. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was. Then again she had never been this far from the forest. She was only allowed to travel to the sea kingdom, which had a lush orchard on the ground of the castle.

"Damn." Fang said taking the glass. "Thirsty?"

"Unbelievably so." Kagome said as she twisted to lay out on the bed. She felt so tired even though she knew she should stay awake around this man. "What's going to happen to me? You can tell me the truth, I promise I won't freak out again. I just need to know." Kagome said making an attempt at conversation to stay awake.

"Look, I really don't know what the hell we're going to do." Pulling the chair from under the roll top desk, he spun it around to face the princess. Princess Kagome, damn. "This has never happened to us before. I'll have to put in a few calls but I'm planning on dumping you back in your forest for your guards to find."

"Mm-Kay." Kagome mumbled as sleep dragged her down.

Whatever Inuyasha was going to say next died on his lips as he watched sleep pull the woman under. "Damn, princesses."

Inuyasha took off his mask and pulled the charm from his neck after watching Princess Kagome sleep for a moment. Then he pulling out his cell phone he called the number he'd memorized from the contractors phone.

After a couple rings someone answered. "I don't know this number so I imagine we shouldn't be speaking." A male said in a greasy voice.

"There's been a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

Inuyasha didn't like how intrigued the guy on the other line sounded. "Did you know the princess from the forest kingdom would be the one traveling today? Or am I reading more in your interest than's really there?" Some thing was starting to feel way off about this entire job and he did like it one bit.

"I had no idea when you were hired. I had only gotten word of their switch this morning." The male assured. "But it makes no difference one is as good as the other. I want her delivered to the edge of the Southern Cliffs by sun down two days from now."

Inuyasha didn't like it. Every instinct he had said this was more trouble than his team wanted. "I will confer with my team and get back to you."

"What!?" The man yelled into the phone. "If you don't hand over what's rightfully mine I will find someone who can!" He threatened.

"Here's the thing. I have this rule about misinformation from clients." Inuyasha said in a dark voice. "It goes like this, the client forfeits their first payment and merchandise if that's what me and my team determine. You say you knew this morning, yet we were uninformed. A man dabbling in a buisness as dirty as this, you could have contacted me with the new information."

"The Princess-"

"Is mine until further notice." Inuyasha stated firmly. "I'll be in touch." With that he ended the call and crush the cell phone in his hand.

Well this was a fucking mess! This bastard knew, he knew that the princesses had switched. The question was why was the wrong princess on the road today. Taking a deep breath he slipped the charm back around his neck, his mask back over his face, the decided to wake the sleeping woman.

She was sleeping so peacefully. He walked over to the bed and gazed down at her. Her black hair was a mess all around the dark blue pillow, one arm laid under her head and the other was draped across her stomach. Her legs laid one on the other, the bent knee on the top leg had drawn her dress up a bit. Inuyasha let his eyes travel back up her body to her face. She wasn't just pretty, she really was beautiful. Perfect, pouty pink lips, heart shaped face, delicate cheek bones, button nose, and long thick eyelashes that locked away eyes that resemblemed a spring storm.

"What the hell am I going to do with you?" He questioned to himself as he kneeled on the floor near the head of the bed. "Hey." He said in a hushed voice as he shook her shoulder. "Princess, wake up."

He leaned back as her eyes fluttered. The moment her mind caught up with her she shot up in bed. "We need to talk." Fang said as he pulled the desk chair close to the bed and sat facing the princess.

"What do we need to talk about?" Kagome asked stretching her voice was thick with sleep and her throat felt dry.

"What reason would someone want your cousin or you?" He asked bluntly leaning forward to rest him fore arms on his knees.

Kagome furrowed her brow as she looked at her kidnapper. He didn't know why he took her, he just took her! "Why do you do this?"

Kagome's question caught The Steel Fang off guard. He wasn't use to the job having so much spirit. Usually once they took someone that person shut up and quivered in fear, not this princess. "I think you're a little confused on how this goes. I ask you answer not the other way around."

"If you won't answer my question then I don't see why I should answer yours." Kagome stated as she crossed her arms defiantly. Unfortunately for the both of them she had a stubborn streak that usually got the best of her.

The mercenary stood up slowly from his seat in front of the bed. Every muscle in his body was tight. This bitch just didn't know what was good for her. Mask still in place he leaned towards the princess causing her to uncross her arms and lean back further on the bed. Her state cautious didn't stop him, he kept advancing. Placing his hands down on the bed on both sides of her legs, Fang chuckled darkly when Kagome tried to scoot backwards away from him. He just followed hovering over her body until they were half way across the bed. Kagome was flat on her back with The Steel Fang above her on his hands and knees, his arms on either side of her head.

"Wh-What do you think you're doing?" Kagome whispered in a panicked voice as she tried to squirm out from under him.

"Whatever I want, Princess." He said low his masked face inches from her. Planting a strong hand on her right hipbone stopping her movement. Squeezing her with the one hand as his other kept him propped over her he said, "You see. This is how this works. I have the power, you are the prisoner." The Steel Fang laid himself flush against her soft body so his face was next to her ear. It was a mistake, he knew it the second he'd done it but damn it was too late to turn back now. "I can feed you to those men downstairs or I can devour you myself, either way you are mine."

A half knock at the door followed by two full knocks let him know more trouble had just shown up. Peeling himself away from the princess on the bed he was satisfied to see she seemed to understand.

For Kagome's part the knock at the door had been heaven sent. The Steel Fang had pinned her to the bed and proved that she was powerless here. She hadn't been able to think, to move fast enough. He invaded her space so slowly she had thought he was just going to get in her face. There was no way she was going to let that happen! But when she leaned back, he leaned in and the further back she tried to get the closer he got. Kagome tried to scoot off the other side of the bed but when he caged her body in with his arms she became seriously worried. His chuckles had crawled down her spine in a strange way. His hand had been so strong and warm when he held her in place...

Kagome was confused to say the least. Part of her was terrified by him being that close to her pinning her body with his... Shaking her head, she shut off those thoughts. It had to be something like that Stockholm syndrome she'd heard about. Did that happen this fast?

"What the fuck do you mean she's not for service? I can smell the fucking heat come off you, Fang."

Arguing at the door drew Kagome's attentions there but it didn't sound any better than the thoughts in her own head.

"I don't give a fuck what your cat shit nose smells! I said she ain't for service." Fang ground out. "Like I told Banks and his groupies, this one is mine." Slamming the door he listened for this pissed off male to wonder back down the hall. This had been a mistake coming here. It was just adding to the list of problems this job already had.

"Do you sell girls here often?" Kagome didn't know why she asked. Morbid curiosity maybe. Still she had to do something cause the questions in her mind were giving her a headache.

"What does it matter to you what happens to common bar wenches?" Fang huffed as he threw the lock in place before walking to the desk where his beer waited.

"People matter. Common or not, people matter." Kagome stated. She got off the bed and walked to the chair The Wolf's Howl had sat in earlier.

Fang kept his back to the woman in the room as he lifted his mask and drank deep from the beer in his hand. "People matter, huh? What kind of people would that be, Princess?" Sliding his mask back in place Fang turned around to face the princess in the chair. "Human people? Demon people? What kind of people matter princess?"

Kagome blinked in surprise. What kind of question was that? "All people matter!"

"All people? That's rich, bitch!" Fang walked over to the bed and threw himself down. "That's just that preachy bullshit you're taught to say."

"Excuse me? I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it. All people matter. Not just demons and humans, but all people." Kagome said glaring at the man sprawled out on the bed before looking away. "It's not just pure bloods that matter."

She had mumbled it but he had heard. There was real feeling in her voice as she said not just pure bloods mattered. "I don't sell girls here. There's homeless girls all over the realm. Homeless people of all kinds. I pick girls up ever once in awhile and bring them to the desert. Some work here for Sango others get hired to others bars or to the brothels. The girls that go to brothels often ask me to escort them when I come to town. It's a safety thing."

He could feel her staring at him, honestly Inuyasha wasn't sure why he had said anything to her at all. But he had and it was out now so fuck it. "It's late. I'll be ordering up some food, my team will be joining us."

Kagome nodded as he reach for the phone next to the bed. The day had disappeared and she hadn't even noticed. What were her parents thinking? Was there parties out looking for her or had a ransom call been made while she was a sleep? Speaking of sleep she was tired again. Being kidnapped sure wiped her out and made her thirsty! "Can you have more water sent up, please?"

Fang nearly dropped the phone when she said please. Why the hell was she being polite now? "Sure, princess." He said offhandedly.

Kagome smiled despite herself as The Steel Fang finished talking to what she assumed was the kitchen then dailed the phone again. This time she could tell he was talking to his men. There was some grunting and growling, that she found strange, then he hung up again.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?" He was surprised to find the princess looking his way with a soft smile on her face.

In the East...

Queen Daphne raged around the sitting room she was in. What had once been a beautiful, delicately decorated room over looking the gardens, now resembled the green houses that sat about the grounds. The bay window had been broken by vines that now crawled all around the room. Vines covered with flowers grew up the walls and spread out across the floor. Outside the garden was not fairing any better. Young tree sprouts had sprung up, the flowers multiplied, bushes bloomed, what was once beautifully manicured was now as wild as the forest.

"Your majesty?" A soft voice called from outside the window.

"Enter." Daphne said as the vine around her shifted making her a throne to sit on.

"I'm sorry to tell you but she is no where in the realm that we can reach. There are only two places she can be." The young nymph said sitting down. She tucked her knees beneath her as she waited orders from her queen.

"Do we know no one in the desert who could tell us if she is there?" It was not the most ideal but Daphne would rather find her daughter in the desert than in the South.

"We maybe able to send a satyr. They would last longer in the desert than any of the nymphs." Marsa saw the sorrow in her queen's eyes. "I'm sure that the king's blood will help the princess survive longer."

"Thank you, Marsa." Daphne said with a broken smile. "We shall see what the king decides."

"Yes, your highness." Marsa said as she rose and faded into the green that surrounded them.

Daphne stared mournfully out of what once was the window. Even if they sent a satyr to the desert who was to say her daughter wasn't in the south. The southern kingdom would never know such wrath as what she would bring down upon them if her daughter was there! Still she and her kind couldn't survive more than a few days in either place, a prolonged search would have to be ordered by her husband and the humans.

Walking solemnly down the hallway to the throne room the queen did her best to keep her emotions from destroying the castle with her power over the flora.

In the throne room King Haro sat on his throne listening to his advisers. They had received the phone call after lunch. The person on the other end didn't demand money. No, they demanded a higher price. A formal engagement between Lord Naraku of the South and Kagome or Kagome would be killed and Kikyou would be taken. Now this was not only his problem but his brother's as well.

"You know what a formal engagement would mean, your majesty!" An older gentleman with thinning hair stated as the King listened. "When the time comes for the princess to take the throne the spiders of the south will then own the eastern forest!"

"The spiders will not own this land!" Daphne's voice carried through the room in a cold blast of her fury. "We will seek out our daughter on our own. You are dismissed, the king and I must speak in private."

The cluster of young and old men didn't argue with their queen. They quietly and quickly made their way out of the throne room through a side door. Once the room was emptied the king collapsed back into the cushions of his throne. Roughly he dragged his hands over his face in misery.

"They took our daughter, Daphne. This is grounds for war." Haro said as he felt his wife kneel in front of him.

"The cost of war is even greater than our daughter, my dear." She said resting her hand on his knee. "We will find her. We will bring her back!"

"What do the trees say?" The king drew his fingers through the midnight black hair of his wife.

"She is not within our reach in the realm. Kagome has to be in the south or the desert."

Haro and Daphne looked sorrowfully at one another. They had been given four days to make their decision. They would use as much of that time as they could to find their daughter first.

"I will go with men to the desert. We will spread out and cover as many towns as we can." The king rose bring his wife with him. "Keep heart, my love, soon our princess will be home."

Daphne nodded as she embraced her husband. She wanted to leave with him but with Kagome gone the forest would die without the queen. She had to stay and he...he had to bring their daughter back.

In the desert...

"What do you mean I'm bunking here?" The Wolf's Howl asked his team mate as the two stood off to the side.

Dinner had been an affair to say the least. The princess was made to eat first. Then the bathroom was secured so she couldn't escape out of the window. It didn't take much persuading to get her to go take a bath but after that the men couldn't agree on anything!

They needed to get rid of her. That much was a given. Koga and Miroku wanted to dump her back in her forest. After Inuyasha had told the about the suspicious call to the employer they all agreed it had been a violation of the agreement, but Inuyasha wasn't sure about dumping her in the forest. He wanted to keep her for a few days and see what they could dig up about her and the eastern kingdoms.

Then there was the current argument. Inuyasha wanted to keep her but after their earlier interactions he wanted some distance from her. He decided to have Koga bunk in the room with her while he himself went and handled his problem.

"Not bunking so much as just watch her for two hours." Inuyasha growled out as he swung his sword onto his back and he headed for the door. "I'll grab a cell from Sango. Call if there's trouble." With that he slammed the door and stormed down the hall.

The hall smelled like old sex and sweat. Over that he could smell that every member of the band of seven was bunked in the same hall as well as the Neko from earlier and an owl. This job had trouble in spades! Down stairs in the tavern room he found Sango behind the bar. She was sour with him about having to wait on the monk but she'd get over it, she always did.

"I need a spare phone." Inuyasha said pulling his mask free but keeping his face hidden with his hair.

"Do I want to know what happened to the last one?" Sango asked eyeing the patron who had become like family to her. True she didn't really know what Fang and Howl looked like. Both were very admit about hiding their faces, but they had been coming to her bar for the last four years so they had earned her trust.

"No probably not." Inuyasha huffed out resting his forehead in his hand as Sango slid a shot his way.

Sango knew better than push, if it was something Miroku could share he would later. After all she had known Miroku long before he had become "The Cursed One".

She couldn't say she approved of his choice in life but she wasn't surprised by it. Sango worried about him but he always came back to her. "Alright, Fang, but I'm warning you-"

Raising up enough for Sango to see a shadow covered face Inuyasha cut her off, "I know, San. No trouble in your bar."

"Stop, please." The sound of a panicked female voice grabbed their attention. "Please just let me go!"

"Maybe a little trouble." Fang smirked at Sango.

The female bartender, who had just hopped over the bar, stopped to looked at the merc next to her.

Throwing his shot back, he swallowed it down as he slid his mask back in place. Turning around he saw the same girl he had scared earlier in the grasp of a dolled up moth demon.

Walking over Fang earned plenty of looks from the males around the room. They knew what was about to happen or most did. The desert was a big place, new people wondered in all the time.

"Let her go." He said in a low voice as he stopped in front of the table.

The moth looked away from the girl he had been pulling onto his lap. "Who are you? The masked avenger?" The demon mocked the man standing in front of his table.

Laughing darkly The Steel Fang leveled his gaze at the demon across from the table. "You wish I was a good guy. I'll say it again, let the bitch go."

Throwing the girl away from him roughly the moth demon stood up releasing his wings. "Little man, you are not strong enough to challenge me!"

Inuyasha didn't give the demon anymore time to act, he charged to table. Jumping on the top of the table he threw himself at his opponent, right fist pulled back.

The moth was so shocked by the actions of the man in front of him that he didn't move fast enough to avoid the right hook thrown his way.

Both males stumbled back, the brawl was on. The moth demon was not accustomed to hand to hand. Struggling to get out from under the inhumanly strong man, he finally rolled them and scampered a short distance away.

"You won't live to regret this!" Opening his mouth he spewed poison silk towards the masked man.

Fang didn't waste time pulling the tessiga from his back to block the silk headed his way. There hadn't been time to pull the sword free and his cloth case was burned away instantly. The sword however protected itself and him as well.

A bullet lodging in the table next to them drew their attention away from each other.

Sango stood with her right side pointed towards the men, muzzle still aimed their direction, eyes blazing with anger. "Not in my bar!" She shouted at the two before she looked around the room. "The rules are simple. You don't touch my girls! Pussy's down the street go there. No, fighting! This ain't a boxing ring. Don't bring trouble with you or I'll shoot you myself. I've got enough blessed bullets to get the job done."

There was a low mumble around the room as the others went about their business. It wasn't the first fight to happen in Jitaku, it wouldn't be the last but it was the first fight anyone had seen The Steel Fang start.

"What's your name?" Sango demanded as she walked over to the table.

"Gatenmaru." The moth said sizing Sango up beady black eyes.

"Control yourself." Sango threatened leveling her gun with his forehead. "Demons survive a lot, but you'll have trouble not shiting yourself with your brains splattered on my wall."

The moth smirked at the ballsy owner. "Understood." He said holding his hands up to surrender.

"Don't touch my girls again. Hoshiyomi's two blocks over takes your kind of strong arming." Sango said turning her gun towards The Steel Fang. "Don't start another fight in my bar, Fang. My lover would be cross if I killed his boss." Holstering her gun Sango stormed back to the bar.

"The Steel Fang." Gatenmaru grinned. "I knew there had to be something more to you. No regular human throws punches like that."

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Fang asked glaring at the moth.

"Oh nothing much, just trying to figure what kind of mixed trash you are. Your line must be really damn dirty for you to look so human." Gatemaru laughed as he righted his chair to sit back at his table. "Must be why you keep your face hidden."

"Feh." Inuyasha spat gripping his sword tightly. "Find a new light moth." He ground out as he headed for the door.

Outside Inuyasha pulled the new phone from his pocket and call up to his room. The phone rang once then he hung up only to call back immediately. After two rings Koga answered.

"I'll be back in an hour then The Cursed One can do as he pleases." With that he hung up and made his way through the desert street.

In the room...

Kagome watched as The Wolf's Howl hung up the phone. The two in the room with her were acting strange, well stranger than earlier. And she was bored. "Do you guys have any cards?"

In the South...

Naraku drifted through the palace halls weighing his options for his next move. He thought hiring The Steel Fang would make the job easy. That band of mercenaries were rumored to be the most ruthless group out there, aside from the band of seven. Problem was the princess' powers must have been more than he realized to turn cold hearted killers into saviors. Still if her powers were that great then she must be able to lead him to his real goal. Entering the map room he pulled open the scroll of the Eastern Kingdom and laid it on the light table.

The kingdom had been divided forty years ago but there was one section of land that stretched for a mile and a half that belonged to both kingdoms. His prize was there under the ground in a cavern that collected sea water deep in land.

He had been wanting Princess Kikyo because she was the eldest, so he assumed she had the most power but now he wasn't sure and maybe either princess would do.

In the desert...

Inuyasha sat out on a dune not far from the small town just thinking. It had been four years since he had first wondered in there.

He had a run in with Miroku the month before and it had been quite the event. The shady monk had hustled his last hundred out of him. Giving Inuyasha a bogus concealment charm, promising the naive prince that it would hide his demonic features but not inhibit his demonic strength. Eagerly Inuyasha had paid the hundred and taken the ring. A week later he picked a fight with an ogre only to find out he had nothing but his human strength with the ring on. After he finished the fight without the ring he hunted the monk down. Inuyasha was about to run him through when Koga showed up.

The wolf prince had been spoiling for a fight and Inuyasha was willing to oblige. They fought for an hour before deciding it was a draw. One killing the other could have started an unnecessary war after all. Once his attention was free he chased after the monk, who had escaped during the fight, and Koga tagged along.

"Don't have anything better to do." The wolf prince had explained as the two headed into the small boarder town in the sea kingdom.

Miroku had been easy enough to find, entertaining himself at the local tea house surrounded by women. After some less than sincere sounding apologizes Miroku paid back the hundred and offered for both princes to meet him in the desert. Koga agreed right out of the gate but Inuyasha told him he'd think about it.

As far as Inuyasha had been raised, you didn't go into the desert. There was no if's and's or but's about it. But...what did he have to lose? The West didn't need him. His brother had his own family now. Inuyasha was nothing but a prince who would never see the throne living off of people who didn't really care if he was there or not.

Those feelings were what had lead the hanyou to be parked on the very dune he laid on now. He had traded a solid gold pendant for a dune buggy, gas, and some desert clothing. Mainly he needed the turban that wrapped around hiding his face.

Acadia had looked like every other desert town he had passed on his way out there. It wasn't that it was deep in the desert but if you didn't know your way around then you'd miss it tucked down between the sand dunes.

Walking through the town had been a chore. He had been bumped, shoved, mocked, and threatened multiple times looking for Jitaku. Inside the bar hadn't been any better. Inuyasha had thought himself a bad ass until he walked into the desert. The amount of weapons laying around had been intimidating on their own but the men and some women attached to the weapons had almost been enough to make him want to turn around and run back to the realm.

"If you look like new meat, they'll eat you up like new meat."

Those were the first words Sango said when he planted his ass at her bar. She introduced herself but never asked his name. He didn't know what had made him introduce himself as Steel Fang but he couldn't give her his real name. He asked if she knew a monk and was shown to a room. The rest was history.

Done with the past Inuyasha slipped his charm back in place followed by his mask then headed back into Acadia.

Jitaku was winding down for the night when he got back. Unlike other places Sango closed at midnight. Inuyasha walked through the thinning crowd to the back stairs then up to his room. At the door he could hear laughter and meaningless taunting.

Opening the door, Inuyasha really didn't know what to say. There sitting on the floor was the princess and his men slapping cards down as fast as they could calling out what they were laying down.

"Bullshit!" Princess Kagome yelled at The Wolf's Howl.

"Damn!" He said gathering the massive pile of cards.

Inuyasha blinked slowly. He turned around, shut the door and locked it.

"Bullshit!" The Cursed One yelled.

"I don't think so." Kagome said in a sing song voice.

"What the hell is going on here?" Fang finally asked as he watched Miroku scoop up the cards in the new pile.

"Bullshit, boss man." Koga said laughing. "Princess Kagome is a hustler."

Inuyasha turned his attention to the princess who blushed and looked down at her hands. "A card hustler, huh?"

"It's not a hustle, I'm just good at reading people." She explained. "It took a few hands with the masks but there are other tells that have nothing to do with faces."

"Really?" Fang questioned as his eyes locked with those of the princess. She blushed and turned away, but not before the other men noticed the exchange.

"Something you need to tell us, Fang?" The Wolf's Howl asked as he leaned back looking from the blushing princess to his leader.

"Not at all." Steel Fang said with a smirk though neither could see it. "Cursed One, Sango is probably waiting for you by now."

Taking their cue, the other two mercenaries got up and headed for the door. The Cursed One headed on down the hall but The Wolf's Howl hung back when he came to stand next to the Steel Fang.

"Be careful with this one." He said looking over his shoulder to the princess gathering the cards. "There's something more to her."

"You let those fairy tales of the East get in you head, Wolf." Fang said pushing his team mate out the door. "We'll look at our options in the morning."

Koga took it for what it was, the boot. Still he knew that if there were demons in the world then the beings in the East had a chance of being real too, but he'd let Inuyasha believe what he wanted for now.

"You don't believe in fairy tales?" Kagome questioned as her capture locked the door and the room quieted. She stayed on the floor all the cards from earlier in her hands as she stared at the masked man in front of her.

"Are you claiming to be a fairy, Princess?" Steel Fang asked as he turned to face her. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door all the while watching every emotion that crossed her face.

"I would never claim a heritage that is not my own." Kagome answered. Standing she straightened her dress before walking to set the deck of cards on the desk. Deep in thought she shuffled the cards for a moment. "Not all tales of the East are happy little fairy tales you know."

"Really?" Fang asked skeptically. "Why don't you enlighten me then, Princess Kagome of the Eastern Forest."

He was mocking her but she let it slide as she hid a smile. It was the first time he had used her name. She didn't know why it made her happy but it did.

Turning over the first card she reveled a tower. Inuyasha was confused, he had been sure those had been plain playing cards a moment ago.

"A great kingdom a rose in the east. It was like the others and yet it was not." Turning another card she reveled the sun. "A youth was chosen to be king and guard the people of the land that was seen." Then she turned a moon. "A queen arose to govern those in the land unseen."

"Unseen?" Inuyasha asked from his place next to Kagome. He hadn't even noticed that he had closed the distance between them.

"That which lies in the 'tween spaces is often unseen. Between the land and see, between the sky and ground, between the wind and trees. There are 'tween places every where if you only look." Another card, a star. "And a queen to rule the sea. She, keeper of all life beneath her waves."

Kagome looked to the man next to her making sure she had his attention. If she died in his possession then at least this story would survive in one person's mind.

"The three made a pact of magic. A promise to protect the peace of their lands and the people who dwelled on them no matter who they may be." The next card was the wheel of fortune. "War over took the other kingdoms of the realm but the East held true to their pact and peace remained. As the years passed rumors spread of the magic that held the East at peace and men came in search of it." A king of wands appeared next. "Soon a demon came. He spoke to the king of the land, saying he was seeking a way to inspire peace within his own people. The king entertained the man for three nights and four day, all the while watching how people listened and hung on the strangers every word.

At the end of the fourth day the king took the man to the sea and beseeched the queen there for an audience. She came and listened carefully to what the man had to say. She saw no harm in reveling the truth of the pact to help others.

Together the king of land and the queen of sea called for the queen of the unseen. However..." Kagome turned over the ace of swords. "When the queen appeared the demons true intentions became known. Grabbing the unsuspecting ruler he forced a blade to her throat.

Angered at the actions of her allies and the stranger, the queen of the unseen called the pact to appear before them." The death card sat face up on the table. "She used the power of the pact to curse the king and queen she had trusted. The queen of the sea she cursed to never again step foot on the land, never to cross the 'tween that separated them. The king of the land she cursed that his kingdom would be divided never to be whole again. The greedy demon, who thought he was forgotten, reached for the pact. She cursed him with a transforming body that would always revel his wriggling nature no matter how well he concealed it. Enraged at the tentacles that sprang from his back the being reached out for the power that lay before him, but the queen wasn't done.

She cursed the power to a hidden place. When he demanded she return the pact the queen refused. Stabbing her through the heart the demon vowed he would have the power for his own." The lovers. "On her dying breath the queen told him two would destroy him in his quest. Two who were more than what they appeared to be."

Kagome looked at the man next to her as he stared intently at the cards on the table. "She died there on the beach and by some dark magic the demon vanished from the East. The king lived an other fifty years, the only wars his kingdom saw were in defense of the realm during the Great Wars. On his death bed he gave his kingdom to his twin sons. One to rule the forest one to govern the sea. The queen of the sea still lives there, often she can be seen on the waves morning the friend she lost, reminded for eternity what trusting too much can do."

"And what of the unseen? Their queen was murdered surely they blamed the others in the pact." Inuyasha was more into the story than he was willing to admit but he had to know.

"Her son demanded the peace remain but also band all those who dwelled in the 'tween to stay away from humans. He didn't want to see what had happened to his mother to happen to others." Kagome slowly gathered the cards and shuffled them once more before placing them back on the table face down.

Inuyasha was to curious not to look. Lifting the top card his suspicions were confirmed, it was a regular queen of hearts staring back at him. "So there are some dark tales to your kingdom as well." He placed the card back as if he had never looked. "Good to know. That doesn't answer your heritage though now does it?" Steel Fang watched as her shoulders stiffened a bit before she looked in his eyes. Her storm grey's looked like a thunderstorm gathering.

"I'm tired." She said calmly. "How are we sleeping?"

"Keh." He said as he grabbed a pillow and blanket from the truck at the foot of the bed and threw them on the floor. "You sleep in the bed and I make sure you don't try to sneak out the door."

Kagome smiled softly before nodding and excusing herself to go to the bathroom. She was relieved he wasn't going to sleep with her in the bed.

Inuyasha waited until she shut the door, then he lifted his mask so he could rub his fingers over his eyes. The power of the pact. That had to be what this employer was after. But what the hell did that have to do with the princesses? Because they were of the king of the lands blood line? But what about the sea and unseen? Surely if all three were needed to call the pact then one from each bloodline would be needed. Damn, he had a headache again. Still, no good would come of the south getting power a queen would die to protect.

When Kagome was in the quiet of the bathroom she sank to the floor leaning her back against the door. Large tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed softly for the great grandmother she never knew. Her mother had told her the story many times and when she and Kikyo were both thirteen they were taken to the shrine where the pact was held. The part she left out was that the pact itself was cursed because of what happened. Blod was required to insure that all involved held up their end of the bargain.

Both girls then gave a blood oath to protect the pact and their kingdoms from all who would try and steal their peace. Each year at the spring equinox the ceremony was held and the promise restored. In three days the ceremony would take place for this year. If she was still missing her mother and father would have to fulfill the promise in her stead. More tears slipped from the princesses eyes. What was going to happen to her? Would she ever see her parents again? Would she ever see the sacred sight again? Would her mother and father fulfill the promise or damn the pact for not protecting her? Come to think of it how had she been taken completely unseen from the forest? Even without the pact there were always creatures in the forest and they should have seen her being taken.

Deciding she was too tired to worry about it that night, Kagome got up off the floor. She quickly finished in the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom she shared with her kidnapper.

The Steel Fang was lounging on a futon laid out on the floor between the bed and the door. Even though his mask was in place Kagome could tell he was still awake. Not having anything to say she walked over to the bed and pulled back the blankets. Once she was settled in and nearly asleep Steel Fang got up off the floor and headed to the bathroom.

"Aren't you worried I'll escape while you're in there?" She asked genuinely curious.

"Keh!" Inuyasha said looking at the woman snuggled up in the queen size bed. "The Neko from earlier is a few doors down. I promise he'll smell you. If you're lucky and he doesn't, six men like the ones who approached the table are out there, not to mentions the others that rent rooms here. Go on and run, Princess. Don't get confused by what I said earlier. I'm no white knight, I won't swoop in and save you. No matter what I plan to do with ya you're still safer here."

Seeing the woman swallow hard as her large grey eyes stared at him, Inuyasha smirked satisfied he had gotten through to her earlier.

Closing the door that would separate them he shut out the lingering gaze of the princess. Once he was alone Inuyasha pulled off his mask and necklace. With the charm gone his demonic senses came on line full blast. The first thing he noticed was the smell of tears. The bathroom was full of the smell of tears and sorrow.

"She sat in here and cried so I wouldn't see." Inuyasha mumbled as he walked to the sink to splash water on his face.

He felt sorry for her. There was something about this princess that was getting under his skin. Shaking his head he realized it didn't matter, tomorrow he and his men would decide what would be done and that would be the end of it. After a quick piss and wash up he replaced his necklace and mask then exited the bathroom.

He was relieved that the princess was fast asleep curled under the covers on the bed. Inuyasha checked the door again just be sure then pulled a tome from his pocket after reciting a few words it glowed blue and he placed it in front of the door. Satisfied that they wouldn't have any unwanted guests he turned off the light and shuffled his way to his bedding on the floor. The futon was a welcome comfort after the day he had just had. Inuyasha slipped off his mask and laid it next to his pillow. Three knives he stick under the edge of the futon and a fourth he slipped under the pillow. Then the mercenary sprawled out on his stomach and let sleep loosely drag him under.

In the East...

The King and his Queen stood deep in the forest staring at the moon. The equinox was coming whether they were ready or not. The woodland around them was silent. It was disturbing to hear such quiet at this time of year. Normally the three days leading to the Equinox were celebrated with joyous festivities followed by large banquets held through the kingdom after the ceremony on the fourth day. But this year there was only mournful quiet. The King had given permission to all his subject to continue as usual, still with the knowledge of their princess missing none felt in a merry making mood.

 **A/N: So there is the end of another chapter. I'm projecting a week before the next chapter is up. Like I said they won't all be quick. Also they won't all be this long. Now for those who may be concerned about the tarot cards in this chapter. I know that most of the cards weren't used in their strictest guild lines...but this is fiction and like so many other things I used them for my own design.**

 **Once again thank you to everyone that reads and reviews!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I thought that this fic would go fast but well as you can see no...no, it's not. But I am chugging on and trying my best for you all. So even though vacation took a toll on my muse I think I'm back in the groove now. I'm changing the rating to M because there will be more violence popping up from here on out.**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter three**

In the desert...

She was close. He could feel her. She was sitting on the floor next to his head. Slowly cracking his eyes open he gazed through the tendrils of his black hair. "What the hell are you doing?" He said in a deep groggy voice.

Princess Kagome, who had been studying his mask, jump at the sudden sound. "Was it necessary to scare me?" She huffed as she set down the mask and walked back to the bed.

"Keh." Inuyasha replied as he sat up with his back to the princess. "You didn't look at my face." It wasn't a question. If she'd have moved his hair to look at his face he'd have felt it, but she didn't. She simply looked at his mask.

"You go through a lot of trouble to stay hidden." She replied matter-of-factly. "The concealment charms you and the Wolf's Howl wear, plus the masks, your face most likely wouldn't have told me who you are."

"So why bother looking at the mask?" He asked as he slid it in place.

Kagome sighed as her hand played with the material of her dress. "No one came to help."

"There wasn't anyone around and we knocked out your guards." Inuyasha answered as he stood up and stretched. Turning around he watched the princess carefully, something told him that's not what she had meant.

Kagome didn't say anything as she looked mournfully out the small window in the room. What could she say? There were creatures in the forest who should have helped, but they didn't. No, the truth of her lands, of the East, was that after the queen's death the unseen were not revealed. They lived separate from all other people it's just how things were. Her mother and her aunt were the lone exceptions.

Inuyasha watched carefully as the princess thought. He could see her sorrow and for some unknown reason he felt bad because of it. Would it have been the same if she had been the real target? Maybe. Would he feel the same if they had taken Princess Kikyo? He didn't know.

"What does the spell on your mask do?" Kagome asked breaking the silence. "I've only seen writing like that in ancient scrolls about the West."

Inuyasha winced to himself. Of course she had to be a scholar of the magical arts for the whole realm. "It's from around the time of the West's civil war."

"That old, huh?" Kagome asked slightly impressed. The civil war in the West that made the Middle Kingdom had happened almost four centuries ago, nearly two hundred and fifty years before the Great Wars that involved all the kingdoms began.

"Yea that old." The merc snorted at the princess as he watched her curiousity slowly win the battle within her.

"What does it do?" She finally asked, her earlier shyness forgotten.

"Thae." Was all he whispered.

Kagome sat up straighter on the bed. He disappeared! She couldn't believe it, he simply vanished. "Fang?" She called carefully looking around the room. "Fang?" She said almost desperately despite herself.

"Thea." His voice sounded directly in front of her.

Kagome let out a cry in surprise as she jumped back further on the bed, her hand flying to her now racing heart.

The mercenary chuckled behind his mask as he looked at the startled princess. "What's wrong, princess? Frightened?"

"What kind of magic is that?" Kagome asked ignoring his question.

The Steel Fang straightened his back and walked to the door. Picking up the tome he whispered to it extinguishing the glow it had. "It's old magic from the West." He told her as he pocketed the stone. "It was made during a time when the Dogs worried that the East would side with the Cats." Turing to the now wide eyed princess he shrugged. "I guess you could say, I believed in the fairy tales more than it seemed."

Kagome was floored with disbelief. The West had magic to hide from her mother's people. They could invade and the humans would have to fight unaided by them. "Does it work on humans?" She asked not thinking her question through.

"You tell me, Princess Kagome?" Fang said watching the princess carefully, fully aware of her slip up.

In the Eastern Forest...

"Your majesties, Lord Akatoi and his son are here to speak with you."

The voice of the older servant drew the couples attention away from the window. They had been watching their general in the early morning light. He was finishing up assignment of regions to his top stealth operators. Each pair would be accompanied by a sayter to ensure success.

The king had decided to send pair of troops in disguise into the desert and the South. They didn't have a lot of time. Searching the South alone was a daunting task but no one knew how many towns were really in the desert. The sayter's ability so sense the princess's power would doubt their chances of finding her in time.

"Lord Akatoi, young lord Hojo. What can we do for you?" King Haro asked as politely as he could.

"Sire, as you know we are very fond of the princess, especially my son." Akatoi said gesturing to the youth beside him. "We would offer any assistance you need in recovering her." The lord stated.

"Thank you for your offer but-"

Daphne laid her hand on her husband's arm. "We could use some ambassadors."

Haro looked questioningly at his queen. Was she suggesting war? His beautiful, peaceful wife. "My dearest. Now is not the time for rash thinking."

"It is not rash. The South is responsible and the other kingdoms must be warned of the lengths they will go. The West has daughters, so does the Northern Valley and the Middle Kingdom." Queen Daphne looked at the lords in their presents. "I am not suggesting a rally for war, but a gathering of information. A spreading of knowledge so that our tragedy does not fall on others as well."

In the desert...

The silence had stretched on between the merc and his hostage. He had let his question hang in the air between them as he cleaned up his bedding. He had no intentions of giving her a way out, he wanted the truth and she wasn't giving it up easily.

Three hard pounds on the door saved the princess from needing to acknowledge her mistake as Fang turned his attention to the door.

"What's the password?" He called out, Kagome couldn't decide if that had been a joke or not.

"I have a fucking key if I need to use it. Open up, Fang." Sango's voice called from the other side clearly not finding it funny.

"Get the cloak on." Inuyasha demanded as he headed to the door. Kagome didn't waste time grabbing the cloak off the back of the chair near the window.

Turning her back to the door she fastened the clasp quickly. The door opened as the princess pulled the hood of the cloak over her head. Careful not to trip she sat in the chair where the cloak had been but didn't raise her face to their guest.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Fang asked as Sango, The Cursed One and The Wolf's Howl filed into the room behind the bar owner.

"Cut the shit." Sango scolded as the other men shut the door before taking up post around the room, trying to seem relaxed. "The Eastern Forest is sending special scouts into the desert looking for the Princess Kagome."

The Wolf's Howl looked to The Cursed One who shrugged. He had never been sure how Sango got the information she did but it was always accurate.

"What's that have to do with us?" The Steel Fang asked bluntly.

"I asked around." Sango said point blank. "You weren't lying, she's off limits and you didn't ask me to take her. So who the fuck is she?" Sango demanded as she began crossing the room.

Fang reached out to grab the angry owner but she was a damn quick on the draw and had her fucking side arm pointed at him again.

"Look, she's-" But Inuyasha didn't get a chance to finish as Sango threw back the hood revealing the princess.

"Shit." Sango whispered with feeling before turning enraged at the mercenaries in the room. "No trouble. It's a simple fucking rule! This is fucking trouble!"

"Sango, please calm down." Miroku said as he tried to approach her.

"No!" She shouted at him. "This crosses a line. For all of you, for you and me." Sango holstered her weapon while cradling her forehead in her other hand. "I want you all gone. You've got thirty minutes."

Kagome wasn't sure what to do. It felt like her fault that these people, who were clearly close, were fighting but then she reminded herself she was the victim.

"Can I get her a change of clothes? Something for the desert and a pair of boots." Fang asked gently as Sango grabbed the door knob.

"That's not going to matter. They have a way to track her magic, but sure." Sango looked to her lover and said with pain in her voice, "The Cursed One can come with me to get them."

Nodding solemnly he pushed off the far wall and followed her out of the door.

"What the fuck's the plan now?" Koga asked throwing himself on the bed discreetly sniffing the air that fluffed up from it.

"I don't know." Inuyasha said as he started to pace a little.

"What are we going to do about the contractor?" The wolf asked.

"I don't know." The nominated leader said again as he paced a bit faster.

"What do you make of them being able to track her powers?" He asked again watching the other carefully.

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Fang growled out before something dawned on him as he turned to stare at the princess.

"What's that look?" The Wolf's Howl asked after a moment of watching his partner stare at the princess.

"Clear your room, we leave as soon as she's changed." Was the only answer he got but at least it proved there was a plan in motion now.

Kagome tried not to take her eyes from the man in front of her as he stared at her but he was making her nervous. And all too quickly she was left alone with him again.

"They track your power." It wasn't a question, it was very clearly a statement. "The charms work on you. The human rulers of the East have no recorded history of magical blood."

"What's your point?" Kagome asked cautiously, disturbed at how knowledgeable he really was.

"I haven't felt your powers this entire time, meaning you have a way to shield them." The Steel Fang stated as he approached her.

Kagome blushed mildly at being caught. He was so much smarter than she had given him credit for. "What would it matter? If I can shield magic then they can't track it, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Flare you power when we get to the edge of town. They'll track you here and we can get plenty of distance between us and them." Fang stated as he stood looking down at her.

Growing angry at his thought that she would help him keep her hostage, Kagome stood up so he did have such an advantage with looking down at her. "Why would I help you keep me hidden from my father's men? I should flare my power right now so the closest will find us before you can get out of here."

"Don't!" Fang demanded quickly grabbing the tops of her arms as if that would stop her magic.

Kagome looked confused at his tone and his actions. It was almost like he was worried about her getting rescued. Hadn't he said they would most likely dump her in the forest for her guards to find? What changed?

It was easy to see the questions in her face and without anything else to say Inuyasha decided to go with the truth. "Whoever wanted your cousin is just fine with having you." Kagome gasp, but he didn't let her interrupt. "There's something off about the entire thing. He broke our agreement by with-holding information, so me and my men agree that we are not handing you over." Relief washed over Kagome but was immediately clouded by confusion again. "He said either of you would do. I think he's after the pact you told me about."

Kagome's knees gave out and only The Steel Fang's hands on her arms kept her from collapsing. Gently he lowered her onto the chair behind her as he knelt down to her level. "How could he know?" Kagome whispered her eyes no longer seeing the man in front of her.

"Hard to say. It's not something well known, that's for sure. Thing is if we let you go other mercs could grab you or move on to your cousin. I really think the best chance you have for your kingdom is to stay with us." The Steel Fang looked into her eyes hoping she understood what all there was to lose.

After a moment of silence Kagome finally asked. "Why do you care?"

Fang turned his head away from the princess as he stood up to walk to the door. "If the South gets power like you described in your story then all the kingdoms will be in trouble." That was all he could say. There was just no way he could tell her it was his way of protecting his own kingdom.

Kagome didn't get to say another word, the mercenary opened the door to reveal both his partners. One with a bundle of folded cloths with combat boots on top the other with a black bag slung over his shoulder.

The three men stood in the room looking to the princess. All were skeptical of how things would go. Everything hinged on her cooperation.

Not knowing what to say Kagome gathered the clothing from The Cursed One and disappeared into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed she could hear the men talking in low voices on the other side but she didn't concentrate on what they could be saying.

It didn't matter she decided as she stripped out of her dress. She had a choice to make. If she let go her hold on her power now there was a good chance her father's men would find her and take her home, but... But what it Fang was right and Kikyo would be taken in her place or there were other mercenaries waiting to take her like she'd been taken before.

Fastening the loose fitting, khaki cargo pants in place she realized that there was really only one choice. She had to go with the men who had her. Not as a prisoner, she knew that much as she laced up one boot then the other. She had to do this as someone who was doing what was best for her kingdom. After pulling the tan shirt on she checked her reflection in the mirror. Kagome didn't do it to really she herself but to see she had made up her mind.

As the princess walked out of the bathroom all the men turned their attention to her. They had all taken the time the princess was in the other room to change as well. Nothing flashy, in fact just the opposite. They all wore plain tan clothing from head to toe except for their white masks that had bright red stripes and the black sword cloth The Steel Fang carried on his back.

"So what will it be, Princess?" Fang asked breaking the silence.

"Kagome." She stated calmly her chin set firmly. The three looked at her and the confusion was easy to read in their eyes. "You can call me, Kagome, but if we do this I needed to know who you all are." She had her doubts that they would go for it but she knew she had a hand to play.

"You already know who we are." The Cursed One stated as he stood up preparing to leave.

"I know what you want me to know. You will tell me the truth of who you are or I'll reveal my power until my father's men catch up with us." Kagome released a small bit of her power into the room. Nothing anyone could detect outside of the it but enough to make her point.

The men felt the power slowly pour over them as Kagome looked them over with dark grey eyes. It was a strange change in the room, almost like a cool breeze that would blow through the forest.

"Alright." Fang said receiving shocked looks from the other two. "Not here though. Once we are out of town."

"How do I know you aren't lying to me?" She questioned with a raised brow as she silenced her magic.

"Well, Ka-go-me, you are just going to have to take it on faith." Fang said. The small smile that crossed Kagome's lips as he used her name wasn't missed by the prince in disguise but he had his doubts she'd smile when she knew the truth.

"We have to go." The Wolf's Howl grumbled.

"Fine. But if this is a lie I'll make sure they find us." Kagome said pointedly as she grabbed the cloak to slip on as she headed towards the door. "Are you coming?" She called as she stepped into the hall.

"Spirited." Miroku stated again in reference to the princess. Koga chuckled as Inuyasha grumbled leading the way to catch up to the head strong girl.

Inuyasha reached Kagome as she neared the end of the hall, before she could take the first stair he grabbed her elbow.

The sudden jerk backwards was surprising but Kagome stilled her scream when she saw it was just Fang.

"We might be doing this together now instead of dragging you along but that doesn't mean the people around here won't grab you if you slip up." Kagome looked confused at the man holding her by her elbow. Sighing slightly annoyed Inuyasha continued, "You leading the way is a slip up."

"Oh!" Kagome glanced down the stairs into the tavern room. There were a few tables close to the stairs. The eyes of the men there were locked on her, she felt like they were looking through the cloak dead at her. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"You walk next to the Wolf's Howl just like before." Fang said nothing else just took the lead from her as the Wolf came to stand next to her and helped her down the stairs.

All three men were scanning the room as they walked along. Having a girl there who was off limits was drawing more attention than they needed. Whispers were everywhere, a few more serious than others. Inuyasha and Koga exchanged a nod as they drew closer to the bar. Charms or no, they could still hear what was being said and too much of it sounded like trouble.

"The desert is a hot, dry place." Sango said as she lifted a cloth cooler onto the bar. Miroku walked up and unzipped the edge. Inside was about twenty bottles of water with a note on top.  
'Don't let the princess dry out. This is not the forest.'  
Miroku zipped the bag shut before shouldering it and giving Sango a nod.

Sango nodded back but it wasn't the goodbye she wanted on this departure. Never before had her and Miroku separated on such bad terms. Never before had she been so unsure that he'd be back. The truth about Miroku was that even if he finished whatever this job was, there was no promise between the two of them to bring him back to her. He had women all through the realm and desert. She'd be a fool to think other wise or to believe he couldn't go to them as easily as her. Still-

"I'm sorry for the trouble." A quiet voice called Sango out of her thoughts as she looked under the hood at the princess's shadowed face.

"I doubt that any of this was your idea to begin with." Sango replied glaring at The Steel Fang though he was busy scanning the room.

"All the same. I am sorry for the trouble." Sango didn't get a chance to say anything else as Fang signaled for them to leave and the Wolf's Howl lead the princess away.

Part of Sango wanted to stop them and make them turn the girl over but part of her knew this was their business and nothing she could say would change the choice they had made. So she watched them walk out of her tavern doors into the bright light of the late morning.

It was a quick stress filled walk down the block to the jeep. After a quick sweep by Koga for bombs or bugs, they loaded up.

"Flare your power as we drive out of town." Inuyasha said as he cranked the engine over.

"No, I need to do it here." Kagome answered.

Whatever argument he was going to give her was stopped as the jeep was suddenly, suffocatingly filled with power. It was cool like deep in the forest, the dampness in the air was heavy on their tongues and hard to swallow, wind that couldn't have been real flowed though the closed up vehicle as if they were driving at full speed, and then it all stopped. As quickly as it had started it was over and they could all breath normally again, after afew gasps.

Fang turned around to ask why she hadn't warned them better but again his original plan was changed. Kagome was slumped back in her seat. "Is she alive?" He asked Koga who was now trying to check her pulse.

"Yea, but her pulse is really slow." The wolf reported.

Worry that Inuyasha couldn't describe flooded him. "You drive, Wolf!" He shouted as he jumped out and opened Koga's door.

Koga wasted no time switching places. Her power had been released they didn't know how the tracking thing worked or how close the East was to Acadia. "Where too?" He asked as he pulled out of the back lot onto the road that would lead them out of town.

"North for half a day then East." Inuyasha said as he settled in the back seat and began checking Kagome's pulse for himself. She had passed out cold but that seemed weird to him. She seemed old enough that she should have better control over her power. Looking over her face he thought her lips and skin looked dry. Grabbing her hand he pinched the skin on the back of it. When it didn't bounce back his suspicions were confirmed. "Miroku, where's the water Sango sent?"

For a moment Miroku was thrown by hearing his own name, but given the current state of Kagome he didn't mention the slip. Digging out a bottle of water he quickly handed it to Inuyasha and watched as his friend carefully filled the princess's mouth before massaging her throat to help her swallow. He watched Inuyasha repeat the action three more times, by the third time Kagome seemed to be drinking a bit on her own.

Miroku saw as relief wash through the other man's hidden brown eyes. It was easy for the monk to see what was happening even if the other two didn't. Prince Inuyasha, The Steel Fang, a man respected in court and one feared outside of the law was falling for the stolen Princess Kagome. Yup, tragedy was scribbled all over this. Sighing the monk turned around to watch the miles and miles of sand around them for any sign of trouble, as he thought about his own tragic love.

"She'll forgive you, you know?" Koga said as he lifted his mask to scan the desert better as he drove.

"She would be right not to." Miroku mumbled lifting his own mask before looking into the back seat again. "What if we don't make it back to apologize? What if the last time I saw her was the last time?"

"We'll be back." Koga said with a stern nod. Swiftly his eyes shot to the review mirror he wasn't surprised to find the road empty behind them but he was surprised to see Inuyasha's mask up and a pained look on the hanyou's human face.

Miroku didn't say anything more as he looked out his window and Koga let the conversation die. That's just how things went with them. They had each said their part, there was nothing more that needed said. Inuyasha wasn't shocked by the short exchange as he listened quietly from the backseat.

Koga wanted to sound sure that they had this under control but honestly he wasn't sure what the hell they were doing. Much less how the hell they were getting out of whatever the hell it was they were involved in. Maybe if he and Koga had kept up with court gossip then they would have had more of a clue. But as it was Koga was avoiding court like the plague and he had just sort of dropped out of it with no reason to give.

He turned from Kagome to face the sunlite sands outside the back passenger window. She was breathing normally and had drank nearly a full bottle of water though she was still sleeping. Inuyasha didn't understand this new desire to protect her. Hell he had been the one who had stolen her! What did he think was going to come out of all of this?

"Fang." Koga called in a deep almost troubled voice.

"What?" Inuyasha answered.

"From the South-West." Koga answered as he moved his attention back to the front to the jeep.

The Steel Fang looked out the back driver window and then out of the rear. "Fuck!" He cursed as he slapped his mask back in place and started digging around behind the back seat. Grabbing a pair of ear muffs he threw them into the front for Koga to slip on and then slipped what was his pair on Kagome. Carefully he shifted her to the floorboard, then laid a tarp over her so she was protected and unseen.

"What's the plan?" Miroku asked as he undid his harness so he could shift in his seat more freely.

"Kill them before they kill us." Inuyasha said plainly as he rumaged through the weapons the tarp had hidden.

"That's my job! You should take the wheel." Koga shouted maybe a bit louder than needed with the ear muffs in place.

Inuyasha looked out of the rear he could now see the vehicle, it wasn't bearing a royal seal or flying a royal flag which meant way more trouble. "No time now." He shouted back to the wolf as he tossed Miroku a couple of hand guns and extra magazines. Then he tossed one up for Miroku to give Koga. Koga eagerly took it sticking it under his right thigh so he could reach it easily and it wouldn't bouce away in the rough driving that was about to happen. He and Miroku slipped their masks back in place as The Wolf's Howl laid the pedal down.

A high pitched whistle blasted through the air signaling the end of their prep and the begining of their defense. The ground about ten yards from the left rear of the jeep exploded spraying sand into the air. The whistle sounded again before the sand near the passenger right exploded, much closer this time.

"Damnit all!" Inuyasha shouted as he dug to the bottom of their weapons, pulling out a short range missile launcher got the other two's attention.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Miroku asked as he hurried to unfasten the soft top on the jeep.

"Getting them before they get us! Remember the plan?" Inuyasha replied as he pulled his charm over his head and shoved it in his pocket. Claws at the ready he sliced away the cover over the rear of the vehicle. There was no time wasted as he stood up on the back of the seat, leaning his ass on the roll bar so he was supported and cleared the inside of the car to keep it from filling with the missile smoke.

"There's only one more of those. Make it count!" Koga shouted as he dodged the latest launch that landed dangerously close to the front driver side.

Inuyasha didn't need to be told twice as he positioned his mask so it held his ears down on top of his head. Looking through the scope he locked on to the vehicle bouncing over the dunes headed for them. Gatenmaru was easy to see loading a grenade launcher before blasting another their way. The moth had a greasy smile in place on his painted lips as his dune crawler neared the jeep.

Inuyasha bidded his time though. Watching and waiting were his friends at the moment. He knew his demonic instincts wouldn't let him down with no charm blocking them, but a sudden jar to the front of the jeep had him slip off his taget just enough that when his finger squeezed the hair trigger the misile went flying. It exploded two maybe three yards from the driver. It was just enough to keep them from the being in the deadly part of the blast.

Looking back through his scope quickly Inuyasha was glad to see Gatenmaru totally empty handed, shouting at his driver. One problem handled for the moment, another sudden jerk of the jeep and the sound of Miroku's guns reminded him that there was more trouble.

The topless humvee pulled back ready to slam the side of the jeep again. Koga fought hard against the pull of the sand and slams as they neared the next ring of sand dunes. He knew that the next slam would flip them sideways or, if he tried turning into the dune, they could be flipped end over end. Inuyasha didn't wait for Koga to figure it out though. The next thing Koga and Miroku saw was Inuyasha's clearly silver hair flying behind him as he propeled into the other vehicle.

"I guess we aren't taking prisoners." Koga joked as he pulled the jeep farther away from the dune. Miroku carefully climbed over Kagome so he could reach the weapons because that damn dune crawler was gaining on them again.

Inuyasha had launched himself into the other vehicle without really thinking but realizing he didn't have his charm or mask in place made it easy to know that no one was walking away from this other than Kagome and his team. The first man he landed next to turned towards him with a gun. Seconds before the gun was fired Inuyasha yanked it from the man's hand dislocating the his shoulder. As the young man yelled in pain the driver swung his arm backwards and with a quick glance he fired his weapon twice. Inuyasha flattened himself on the floorboards in time to avoid getting blasted. Unfortunately for the other man his partner had fired a sawed off shot gun and the spray peppered the him in the back. He fell on the seat next to Inuyasha, blood dripping from his mouth as he struggled to breath. Taking pity, though it wasn't deserved, Inuyasha gave a quick twist breaking the man's neck. Pulling a blade from his waist the hanyou jumped forward into the passenger seat before the driver could finish reloading. The silver haired mercenary slammed the driver's head against the steering wheel, then pulled the man's head back so he could make a clean slice of his throat. Throwing the lifeless body out of the vehicle into the sand, Inuyasha took the wheel. To his left he could see the jeep being gained on by Gatenmaru. Luckily there were no other vehicle's in sight. Turning the humvee to ram the dune crawler in the side he stepped on the gas.

Miroku had finished both magazines but only the driver had been hit. He didn't recognize the other man but from the shit he was spitting out of his mouth, Miroku could tell he was a demon. Cursing loudly he searched for blessed bullets in their supplies. One would think that with him being the one blessing them for Sango that they would keep a few for themselves, but what he was seeing proved other wise. A bullet whizzing passed his head and embedding itself in the metal plate hidden in the driver's head rest got his attention quick enough.

"Fucking shoot his fucking ass!" Koga shouted as he turned to the right hoping to avoid another bullet. He had been trying to keep an eye on Inuyasha but after the hanyou dived and a shot gun sounded he had to focus on saving the asses in their vehicle more than worry about the hanyou. Inuyasha was on his own for the time.

Miroku grabbed two grenades and shouted, "Step on it!" As the jeep lerched forward he pulled the pins and flung the bombs directly at the hood of the presuing vehicle.

Inuyasha watched as Miroku threw two grenades and plunged down in the seat. Gatenmaru was too close to avoid them. They exploded the front end of the dune crawler sending a wounded Gatenmaru flying into the sand. Inuyasha slammed down on the breaks and threw the humvee into park not caring about the damn thing. He jumped out and rushed the other demon before he could find his feet.

A hand around his throat was the first thing Gatenmaru felt as the sand cleared from his eyes. The claws were the first dead give away. "Little man, you are full of surprises aren't you."

The sound of the jeep pulling up close didn't deture Inuyasha as his claws pierced the flesh of the demon below him. "What the fuck are you doing?" He growled his mask back in place.

The afternoon sun was blinding as Kagome lifted the tarp that had been on top of her. The first thing she realized was that the jeep's cover was destroyed and over head was nothing but sky. Soon she noticed that they were stopped and she was alone on the floor with earmuffs on. Carefully she shuffled so that she could crawl into the seat, pulling the earmuffs off her head.

Fang's voice was close but he sounded different, his voice was darker than it had been before. Looking more carefully she noticed bullet casings all around the car and she could see smoke rising up into the open desert sky. Peering over the seat The Wolf's Howl and The Cursed One were standing off to the left of the rear looking down. Curious she raised up so she coud see more.

Gatenmaru laughed again as Inuyasha sliced off his left ear. "This pain is nothing compared to what's coming for you." Blood stained teeth shone behind his bruised lips as he smiled. "You should have handed over the bitch after you had your fun."

Inuyasha landed another punch dead on the bastard's noise satisfied as the hardened bone crunched. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Fang, we need to go." The Cursed One said eyes scanning the desert. This interigation was taking too long.

"There's a bounty now on you, your men, and the little cun-" A sickening gargling sound filled the air as Gatenmaru choked on his blood that he wasn't able to swallow.

Inuyasha's normally golden eyes flashed dark red. He watched the moth for a moment, his clawed hand buried in the other demon's throat. The moment he heard what Gatenmaru was about to call Kagome he reached without thinking and stabbed his claws through the front of the moth's throat.

"Feh." He spat as he ripped his hand out the side of the other demons throat. Glaring down at the near dead Gatenmaru, Inuyasha could see the muscles in his neck trying to knit themselves back together. Switfly he pulled a blade finishing the decapitation, then threw the head towards the shell of the dune crawler.

The sudden gasp that came from the jeep turned all three heads. There stood Kagome wide eyed, staring at the blood covered claws of a silver haired, dog eared steel fang. Slowly her eyes wondered at the things around them. The body almost to far away to recongnize as a man, the humvee that was still stuttering with a blood covered back seat and a man with his head twisted the wrong direction. Then her eyes traveled to the burnt and twisted metal of the dune crawler with its crispy body in the passenger seat and a head on the ground where it had landed. Slowly she looked back at the body that still had blood flowing out of it.

Suddenly the quiet in the world was too loud. The air around her had a noise all it's own. Everything was in sharp focus and vivid color. The blood on the man she thought was fang was red but the blood in the sand was black where it soaked into the sand that was blinding in it's golden glow. The smoke around them was black like an evil spirit rising from the angry sand dunes. The smells of gun powered and death were crowding her senses, making her sick.

"Kagome?" Miroku called gently as he approached the princess. "Kagome, can you hear me?" She wouldn't take her eyes off of Inuyasha but they all knew that they didn't have time for this.

Kagome stared through the mask to the strange gold eyes it consealed. Even though the color was different they were still familiar from her short time with him. As she shifted her gaze she watched the blood drip from his claws. It was then she was reminded that he wasn't really familiar at all. Slowly she turned herself around and lowered herself to sit in the back seat. He had told her hadn't he? The Steel Fang had said, _"_ _I promise those horrible deeds you over heard were only what could be shared in polite conversation. We are much worse than that."_ She hadn't been sure about believing him then but now she didn't doubt it at all.

Miroku shrugged as Kagome sat down without saying a word. He worked around her fixing the tarp back over the weapons before checking the outside of the jeep for serious damage. Inuyasha and Koga took off rummaging through the two busted vehicles to scrounge up whatever weapons that they could. The haul was surprisingly small but it was easy to figure that Gatenmaru had underestimated them, believing them simply human.

As the two demons neared the jeep Koga placed a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "Drive." Was all the wolf said before throwing the small group of guns he had gathered under the tarp in the back of the jeep. Then as slowly as he could he opened the back door and slid into the seat next to the princess.

Inuyasha looked down at his hand and was reminded of the thoughts he had had a few days ago about a girl maybe a family and the addiction he had to the life he was living. Thing was for the small time in that small room with Kagome he had been willing to pretend like maybe... "Keh." He spat at himself annoyed at his thoughts.

Swiftly he jumped in the driver's seat and threw the jeep in drive. The ride was quiet as the small group quickly made their get away. Night would fall soon. The sun was starting it's decent and nights could be cold in the desert. Inuyasha couldn't be sure but he believed that Kagome could be in shock. She would need to rest, eat, and be given more water. It was clear they weren't going to make the edge of the Eastern boarder like he had planned.

When the sun was low Inuyasha found an out of the way spot off of the carivan road. They were still in the desert so there wouldn't be much covered but they weren't far from where he wanted to enter the forest in the morning.

"This is where we camp." He announce.

Koga and Miroku went to work right away but Kagome sat still. She hadn't moved the entire drive. Inuyasha stayed away from her side of the vehicle. Honestly he couldn't stand the look in her eyes after she saw what he did. He grabbed the bedding that was closest to the the opposite side and went over to make camp with the other two men.

Kagome looked out over the desert to the distant green edge. It was still far away and faint but she could see it. Her heart felt so heavy that she thought it would fall out through the soles of her feet. She couldn't stop seeing Fang in her mind over and over. His silver hair, the claws on his fingertips, the fangs in his mouth. She almost gigled thinking that now he actually looked like someone who'd be called The Steel Fang.

The light started to fade quickly and the cool that followed it was surprising to Kagome. The jeans were welcome warmth on her legs but her arms were starting to get chilled even through the cloak.

"Kagome, would you like to join us? We are getting ready to eat."

Kagome turned to look across the backseat to the other side of the jeep and there was The Cursed One standing a small distance from the vehicle. His eyes looked worried as he watched her. "Yes, I'll be right there. After all we had a deal didn't we." Kagome answered with a small smile.

"Yes, I guess we did." He said with a hesitant laugh.

Kagome opened the door and walked around the back to meet him. "Since you are here, why not start with you?"

"Um!" Miroku fumbled in alarm. He hadn't really planned on this part actually being followed through with. "Well, let's get over to the fire and then we'll decide how this will go."

Kagome gave a curt nod to the man next to her as she took the lead to the fire. There was no way she was going to let them off the hook. She was going to know who they were even if she had to knock their masks off one at a time!

Stopping suddenly Kagome blinked at the fire a few times before looking around her at the baren desert. "Do you all just carry fire wood in the back of your jeep?"

"Yea." The Wolf's Howl answered like she had asked a stupid question.

Kagome pursed her lips as she shuffled up to the blaze. "You will tell me who you are."

"Still demanding after the show today." The Steel Fang mocked from his set across the fire.

Her stormy greys locked with his molten gold. He was relaxed on a blanket his left leg bend upwards supporting his arm that rested on it as he leaned forward, his right leg stretched out in front diagonal to the fire. His gaze was intense but there was so much hidden in it that Kagome couldn't understand.

Inuyasha watched the young princess as she watched him. She was shaken, but it didn't seem that it was her nerve that was wary. Some other part of her was bothered by what she had seen.

Taking a deep breath he let it out in a huff. "Fine." Looking to Miroku and Koga in turn he waited 'til he recieved a nod or a shrug. "Let's start eating and we'll tell you what you want to know."

Kagome agreed and the four of the sat around the fire. Miroku took to scooping out the stew that Sango had snuck into the bottom of the pack. Lucky she had or they'd be eating rabbits or lizards 'cause that's what the desert provided.

Inuyasha lifted his mask after he recieved his bowl and a loud gasp was heard from the princess, to which he rolled his eyes.

"You're Prince Inuyasha of the Western Kingdom!" Kagome couldn't help her out burst any more than she could help her staring. He was handsome! And not in that princely polished way but in a roguish way that had something dark hidden behind it. Blinking and turning her head she stopped those silly thoughts. He wasn't roguish he WAS a rogue and there was darkness in him that she had seen first hand.

"Keh, so you know your princes." He mocked almost cruely knocking his chin up at Koga signally it was the wolf's turn.

Koga got the hint, removing his mask earned a confused look from Kagome. But once the charm slid off his finger her reaction to him was very similar. She recognized him on the spot and then chastized him.

"Do you know how worried your father is?" She scolded. "He has sent three ambassadors to our lands alone over the last four years. There's no telling how many to the other kingdoms. And your poor fiancee! She deserves some one who wouldn't run off for this kind of life." She finished glaring at the wolf who was quite uncomfortable by that point in time. Turning to the last man Kagome said, "If you are another prince running from his responsibilities I am going to make this a very short trip by drawing my father's men right to us."

"Haha." Miroku laughed, though it fell flat, as he rubbed the back of his head. He had never been so glad to not be royalty. "Nothing of the sort." He assured pulling off his mask.

Kagome leaned in a little closer to his face as she took in his features. He looked vaguely familiar, like someone she had met when she was a child, but he was too young for that to be possible. "Are you using a glamour spell?"

"No, my lady, what you see is what you get." He said as he raised her hand to kiss it. The low growl from the other side of the fire stopped him before his lips touched her skin. "How's about we eat. You will be needing to get your rest and more water before another day in the sun."

The princess lifted her bowl and smelled the food inside. It smelled delicious! Her stomach grumbled loudly reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day. With a mild blush she looked back to the man next to her. "Tell me your name first."

"Miroku." He said then he began filling his mouth with food.

Kagome watched as the other two did the same thing. She knew what they were doing. This was to be the official end of the questions. Lifting her spoon she too began to eat. For the night she would let them think it was over, but she hadn't learned anything that was really worth knowing. They had more to tell and she was going to make sure they did.

At the Eastern Sea...

Kikyo tossed and turned in her fit full sleep. Her dreams were horrible visions that she couldn't be rid of. She liked when Kagome was near durning the time of the season when her powers ran wild like the sea. The calm constant of the forest that Kagome posessed was soothing. It was the reason she had demanded Kagome come to the sea under the pretense of being ill.

Queen Lilaea, Kikyo's mother tried to get Kikyo to go to the sea when her time was near and sometimes the princess listened. This time however some unknown fever had fallen on her. The real illness had been the reason Kagome was sent home and what kept her in her bed during her cousin's disappearance.

As the sky grew darker outside so did Kikyo's visions.

She saw Kagome at the ceremonial site. The cave had always been filled with beautiful, glistening growth from the Earth, that reached from the ceiling trying to touch the ground and from the ground trying to touch the ceiling. There had been a small, soft river that flowed from the sea and emptied into a tiny pool deep inside, and moss had grown on many damp surfaces with wonderful flowers that glowed in the darkness.

But the cave was not how it normally looked. There were broken stalacites and stalagmites scattered on the cave floor, sticking out of the pool. Moss and flowers were tramped and ripped up from their normal places.

Kikyo tossed and panted in her sleep as she stretched her mind to see closer.

There were three bodies scattered about. They were larger than Kagome. One laid half in the river. One laid buried in a pile of cave rocks. One was next to the figure of a woman, bleeding on the moss covered ground.

The sea princess was sure the woman was Kagome but there was something different about her cousin. Something she couldn't focus on. Behind Kagome was a dark figure that was moving towards the other princess as she looked at the person bleeding on the ground.

Kikyo sat up in her bed screaming so loudly that her guard came rushing in followed quickly by her doctor and then her parents. The young sea princess was shaking as her mind replayed the gore of her vision and the dark figure that was moving towards her cousin.

"What was it, Kikyo?" Queen Lilaea asked carefully as she stroked her daughter's sweaty hair.

"Death." Kikyo said bluntly as tears welled in her eyes. "Death of us all."

The king looked worriedly at his daughter as his wife held the girl stroking her long black hair. Her visions were not usually wrong but then again they were not usually dark. His hope was that this time one exception would lead to another.

In the desert...

Dinner had been a quick, quiet affair and so had settling down for bed. Inuyasha now sat on the jeep's hood keeping watch for the first two hours before he would wake Koga. Glancing at the three near the fire he noticed that the princess slept the same as the men. She had her back to the fire so when her eyes opened she was looking at the darkness instead of ruining her nightvision.

He had to look away. He had a job to do. Even if he didn't know what job they were really doing taking her with them, he knew his job at the moment was watching the desert for trouble. He'd be damned if they were snuck up on because he was being a dumb ass.

"You are a half demon, right?" Kagome's soft voice asked from behind him.

Inuyasha turned his head, his eyebrows drawn as he looked at the young woman who leaned against the driver door. He hadn't heard he move at all! "What, is that a problem for you to have a half breed for a captor?" He sneered as he turned to look back over the desert.

"Don't ever call yourself that." Kagome requested sorrowfully.

"What's it to you anyways, Princess?" Inuyasha didn't look at her, he couldn't. She was messing with his head, with his emotions, and he didn't like it.

Kagome sighed as she watched his silver hair glow white in the moonlight that painted the desert. It all had such an etheral look to it. If she didn't know better she would have believed that it was a dream. "You are not the only one who is made of two different peoples and when you call yourself that you are calling them that as well. Some of them have fought their entire lives to show how proud they are to be a blend of hearts, Prince Inuyasha."

Inuyasha sighed defeatedly. She was right and that pissed him off a little bit. "Damnit, wench." He cursed as he turned around, but she was gone.

His eyes scanned the area quickly. He spotted her on his bedding on the far side of the fire with her back to him. It was a very unsubtle way of showing she didn't want to be near him at the moment.

Inuyasha threw his head back. Facing the stars he growled lowly in his throat. What the hell was with her!? He decided, as a star shot across the sky, that by the same time the next evening he would get her to tell him what she was getting at. Pulling his chin back down his eyes roamed the darkness once again.

Kagome lay with the heat of the fire against her back. She questioned herself over and over again. Why was it so important to her to know more about him? He was a theif, a murderer, everything her mother had warned her against as a child, and yet... And yet she couldn't shake the desire. She had to know more about this man who had stolen her from her ordinary life.

 **A/N: BAM! There it is! Chapter Three! I have a better idea of how I want chapter four to go but I'm looking for it to be posted more like two or three weeks from now rather than one week. Still I am sorry for those expecting this sooner.**

 **Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my fics and thank you for everyone who decides to review. Everyone have a blessed and wonderful week!**

 **Thank you tomorrow4eva for pointing out the spelling errors. 1:30am is not the best time to edit if you are not normally a night owl lol! If anyone spots anything else I am more than happy to hear about them so I can fix them.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed!**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter 4**

At the Eastern Sea...

The next morning found the castle of the Eastern Sea in a buzz. The princess refused to stay in bed no matter how ill she was. In her heart Kikyo knew her illness, Kagome's kidnapping, and her horrible vision were all connected.

"I must go to the sea and if no one will help me I will do it myself, but I will go." Kikyo declared as she spoke to her father and their attendants.

With a sigh King Haru resigned himself to the fact that his daughter was as stubborn as her mother, both as resilient as the sea.

"Forty guards will accompany you to the water and back home." Kikyo opened her mouth to protest but her father silenced her with a raised hand. "You are also a daughter of the land and you are needed. We can not be careless and allow the tragedy that has befallen my brother and your cousin to befall us as well."

Kikyo clasped her hands in front of her before bowing her head to her father. "Understood, Father."

In the Queen's receiving chamber Lileae sat at her desk speaking carefully into the phone. "Daphne, I am sure of what Kikyo has seen. Whoever is behind all of this will make blood sacrifices to the pact."

Lileae could hear Daphne's frustrations on the other end of the phone. The pact might have seemed like a good idea at the time. Magic of power the lands and sea, to soothe the peoples of them all. But time had proven it to have been a foolish idea.

"Lileae, you must go to the sea. You must warn your mother and have her ready her army. Haro will be speaking with his brother, your husband, very soon. If Kikyo's vision comes to fruition then we need to be ready. Your mother is the only one who lives who made the pact we need her knowledge." Daphne's voice was calm but stern. She knew the nereid would do what was best.

"We will be in touch soon. We must beat them to the site on the night of the equinox. It maybe the only way." Lileae said.

Both woman were unsure of what would come in the near future, but both would do everything in there supernatural power to protect their daughters and their home.

In the desert...

When his watch had been over the night before and Inuyasha finally got a chance to lay down he was reminded that Kagome had taken his original bedding. So, much to his annoyance he was forced to take the bedding she had been on. Once he laid down he was even more irritated as his canine nose zeroed in on her scent. He had been careful not to smell too much of her scent since he had pinned her on the bed. The bar and blood had helped, but laying on top of it left no way to avoid it and taking the wolf's free bedding would have raised to many questions.

Needless to say, Inuyasha had been irritable for the entire morning as the small group broke down camp and loaded back into the jeep. Sleeping hadn't been as peaceful as he had hoped. He kept having the strangest dreams keeping him from true rest.

"So where to, oh grumpy ass?" Miroku asked as he slipped the vehicle in gear.

Inuyasha glared out at the expanse before them. He was honestly tore between warning his brother while seeking his help or going straight to the Forest King and Queen. Either choice wasn't sounding fun or sounding like something he could ask the other two to go along with. "Just head East. I'll have more figured out by the time we get there."

Miroku nodded as he turned the jeep towards the rising sun. As if he could read minds Inuyasha handed the driver a pair of sun glasses before the hanyou dug deeper in the glove box. "Another one of those special rocks?"

Inuyasha smirked at the monk. "Something like that."

Koga, who sat in the back next to the princess, scanned the desert like clock work. He didn't want another surprise like they had the day before.

"Why do you do this?" Kagome's voice asked calmly. When Koga looked at her he was almost proud to see her scanning the desert as well.

"Does it really matter?" Koga replied turning away before she could catch him watching her. She was pretty, but not just in a royal way there was something wilder, more earthy to her. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"You have a kingdom that depends on you. You are the future King of the mountians. Why leave your people unsure of their future to be a killer and a thief?" Kagome asked sounding honestly curious as he felt her eyes on him.

Taking a deep breath Koga let out a sign. "Look, Princess Kagome, not all of us want that burden thrown on us." Koga pulled a sweat band from his pocket and slipped it over his head before fixing it to keep his bangs off his forehead as the sun rose higher heating the dry earth. "Do you know how many cubs a wolf demon can have?"

"I would imagine two or three." Kagome answered furrowing her brow not seeing where this was going.

"Try six in a one hundred year period. Most canines have to take multiple mates for that. Females usually can only have two or three young every hundred years. So, trust me when I say there are other heirs who can take care of the kingdom and the people." Koga quipped as he took up scanning the desert again.

"And what of the Princess Ayame?"

Koga froze at the name of his abandoned fiancee. "She is free to marry someone else, it's not as if we knew each other well. We met a few times, ages ago, when she was still fairly young."

Kagome let the conversation die for the time being. She had met Ayame a few times herself. The young wolf princess was a very open hearted being. Problem was she was most definately in love with Koga. Now that Kagome knew what had really happened to the wolf prince she felt sad for Ayame.

The ride continued in silence for what felt like forever to Kagome. The sun was beating down on the topless jeep as the middle of the day drew closer. She was thankful for the water that Sango had sent but she was monitoring her in take, relieving herself that morning had been an embarassing affair that she was not ready to repeat.

Inuyasha had listened to Kagome's conversation with Koga as he was sure Miroku did. It seemed that Kagome had more to say but stopped herself. Inuyasha was glad she had bit her tongue he really wasn't in the mood for the chatter.

Carefully he charged the claw on his right pointer finger and carved slowly into the rock in his hand. He had done it a number of times since the ride had started but it had to be done right. Blowing away the powder gathered on the rock he looked over his work.

"Will it work?" Miroku asked as he glanced over, easily recognizing the spell his friend was carving.

"It better." Inuyasha said seriously as he watched the tree line approach quickly. "Did you feel that?" Inuyasha asked cautiously looking around.

"What? The wind change?" Miroku asked as his eyes darted around the area in front of him. "I don't feel anything demonic in it. Most likely just the air from the forest clashing with the air from the desert."

Inuyasha scanned the desert once more before focusing on finishing the tome he was making. "Maybe.", was all he said as he charged his claw once more.

Kagome listened carefully as the two in the front talked low. It was hard for her to hear every word but she hear enough to realize that they planned on taking her back into the forest. Her heart was overjoyed and the smile on her face was hard to hide.

In Acadia...

The town had been converged on by three squads of the Eastern guard. The princess's power had been felt full force in the three surrounding towns the day before. They questioned everyone they could find though most weren't helpful. However in a bar/inn called Jitaku, one squad was making head way.

"You say a mercenary called the Steel Fang may have the Princess?" A guard asked the patron.

"Yea. I'm sure that the owner can tell you more. Her lover is part of his gang." The Neko smiled viciously at the gaurd as he reclinded in his chair crossing his arms over his chest.

"Thank you." The guard replied though the lack of sincerity was clear. Turning around he found the woman who had previously been identified as the owner standing behind the bar wiping it down.

"What do you want now?" Sango asked hotly as she saw the guard approach out of the corner of her eye.

"I was informed that the mercenary known as the Steel Fang may have brought the princess here. That is something you didn't mention earlier." The guard replied as he faced off against the woman. She was clearly made of more than she looked to run a tavern for mercs and pirates. That was saying something since she looked tough as nails to begin with.

"Fang and his men came in with a person in a cloak to hide their identity. It was made clear that the person was a woman who was off limits." Sango planted her hands on the bar and looked straight at the guard. He was about her age, with soft, short cropped, brown hair. He was taller than her, maybe Miroku's height and well build but not in a ridiculous way. She figured he had been a solider his whole life, his entire stance screamed that this _was_ his life and his hardened brown eyes confirmed it. "It's not often that he brings women in here that are off limits but when he does they are usually looking for work or shelter here. This one was different. He took her to their room almost immediately and left just as quickly the next day."

"What does that mean 'off limits'?" The guard asked a scowl forming on his face.

It was easy for the female bartender to know what he was thinking and even though she knew the truth about what Fang really did for the women he brought around, it would be bad for his rep if she let that information go. "It means what you think. He has running contracts with girls at the brothels around town. When he's in town he brings some of his girls down here to accomidate the men or women depends. He also collects part of the money the girls make here."

"How can you condone such actions?" The guard asked, a bit of his humanity showing through in the slight anger in his voice.

Sango sighed, an outsider would never understand how the desert worked and it was pointless to explain. "Why are you so concerned? These are women who are out on your streets. Cold, hungry, no one giving a damn about them. They are able to make some kind of life here. Sure it's not ideal but it's more than your kingdom is offering." By the time she was finished she was hot, scratch that, she was pissed.

"I'm sorry to have offended you-" The man started.

"Well, you didn't just offend me you offended all the fucking people who live here." Sango stated getting back to her work. Whether the Eastern guards were there or not business hadn't stopped.

"Can you show me the room they used?" The guard asked slightly hopeful to get a lead and get out of this angry woman's presence.

Sango huffed in annoyance as she spun around and grabbed the key. "Sure, but it's already been cleaned."

"It's ok. What we are looking for can't be cleaned away." The guard signaled to a tall blonde man across the room. He didn't look like a guard with his very form fitting, lightweight, green clothing. The sleeveless, short tunic and matching pants look more like something from history than for a man searching the desert for someone. With fluid steps he crossed the room and both followed the owner up the stairs.

Sango walked slowly down the hallway to the room she had given the Steel Fang. She figured that the room she found them in the other day was the one the princess had slept in. Her plan was to lead them to the other but the second man who had joined them stepped around her and stopped infront of the other door.

"The princess was here." He said in a deep voice.

"Open this one." The guard demanded.

Sango walked over and unlocked the door. The second man stepped forward before she could open the door and grabbed the handle. She had been around nosy types before she knew the drill. Holding up the key she dangled it at the guard, "Lock it back when you're finished and don't mess it up." Dropping the key in the guard's waiting hand she turned and headed back the way she came.

The satyr waited until the owner was gone before he opened the door. The princess's magic lingered in the air and got stronger when they stepped into the room. Suddenly he was froze. A voice echoed in his mind.

 _I am safe. Return home. This is the will of your princess._

Turning around his eyes searched the room. There was something in the room, some other message that was remaining. His eyes landed on a harmless deck of playing cards. Gently he turned the top one over to find the lovers revealed.

"We return to the East." He told the guard as he quickly exited the room.

"What's wrong? Was the princess here?" The guard questioned as he hurried to lock the door and catch up with his partner.

"Yes. She left a message for the Queen." The satyr held up the card though he knew it meant nothing to the human. The truth had been hidden away, turned to fable among those that were of the seen but the unseen knew. They would never forget their Queen's sacrifice.

Where the desert meets the forest...

As the group pulled a small ways into the concealment of the trees, the shadows played with their senses. The rays of light danced along the forest floor as the gentle breeze passed by.

Miroku slowly drew the vehicle to a stop before throwing it in park. He and his comrades slid their masks in place followed by the demons adding their charms.

Kagome climbed out of the jeep and took a few steps over to the nearest tree. Behind her she could hear the men faintly whisper the spell that the Steel-Inuyasha had used on her. Suddenly she turned around expecting them to be gone but she realized they hadn't disappeared.

"I can still see you!" She exclaimed rather loudly.

Inuyasha smirked behind his mask. "Nothing gets by you, Princess." He called as he got out and walked to the end of the jeep where the weapons were kept.

Kagome tried her best to glare a hole into the side of the hanyou prince's head as she watched him swing a sword cloth over his head so the strap crossed his chest. She just didn't understand the nerve of that guy. He was such a...such a...urgh! She couldn't even let herself think the word. Her parents had raised her better than that but still, he twisted her around inside so easily.

"You stare any harder and you might actually make a mark." Koga chuckled from beside the angry girl.

Kagome blushed a mild amount before turning back around to face the forest. She tried to focus on her mother's people. She knew they should have felt her enter the forest, surely they would come looking for her. But, she couldn't feel them, not a single life force was close to her.

"There's no one here at the boarder. There never is." Inuyasha said as he walked up to the pissed off princess. "I need you to use our other identities while we are traveling together.

Koga nodded his agreement. As he bobbed his head he notices Inuyasha slip something into one of Kagome's lower pockets as the hanyou brushed passed her. Though curious the wolf said nothing as the other prince stopped a small distance away surveying the trees.

"We need to move." Miroku said as his eyes darted about from his position near the front of the jeep.

"So soon?" A dark voice called as he and six others stepped out from behind the trees that lined the boarder between the forest and desert.

"Learn some new tricks did ya, Banks?" The Steel Fang asked as he moved his body to block Kagome from the bandit's view.

"How were you hidden?" The Wolf's Howl asked as he crouched low.

"You mean how we hid from you and the mutt's demonic senses?" Renkotsu asked in an arrogant voice as the wind of the forest pulled at the long tail of his blue bandana. "We saw you pull in, Prince Koga of the Northern Mountian," He said with a faux bow before his gaze turned to the Fang, "And Inuyasha, the un-wanted prince of the West.

"You know, Renkotsu," Inuyasha asked in a dark voice as he pulled the charm over his head, "I always wanted to kill you." The hanyou smirked behind his mask as he flexed his claws.

"WAAAAH!" A shrill cry broke the seriousness of the moment. "Look at those adorable ears!"

The next moments were a blur to Kagome. One second some chick, but it may have been a guy, squealed about Inuyasha's ears. Next thing she was under Inuyasha's arm as he jumped away from the spot they had been. When she looked back she could see some of the saplings falling from where they had been sliced through. She was extremely confused about how that happened since the only movement she noticed the enemy had made was the chick-man? had raised his/her arm. Oh, she had a headache now.

"FANG!" The person whined like a child. "How come you moved?"

"I know how you fight, Jaks. Did you really think I'd fall for your serpent blade?" Inuyasha called back as he set Kagome on her feet. Truth was they were lucky that the blade made a sound as it cut through the air. After Kagome was standing he stepped forward ready to charge his opponents, but the small tug at his sleeve stopped him. Even though he could tell his team mates were already engaged in battle he turned to look at the girl behind him.

"Please don't harm the trees." She pleaded with large grey eyes.

Was she serious?! They were fighting for their lives inside a FOREST. How was he supposed to not hurt a tree? Looking over to see Banks smirking his way, Inuyasha knew that their time was up.

"I can't promise that. What I can promise is that they won't hurt you."

Shocked by his promise Kagome's grip loosened on his sleeve and before she knew it he was gone. The princess could only watch in awe as he sped through the trees charging towards his opponent.

Miroku had taken cover near the front of the jeep when the first slice of Jaks' sword broke through the trees. He had become pinned down there by Kyokotsu and Jaks. Everytime Miroku tried to stick his head out on the right to take a shot that damn ball and chain flew his way, every time he tried his left Jaks' fucking sword sliced at him. He was getting pissed but with Koga and Inuyasha engaged with Renkotsu and Banks, respectively, there was no opening for his windtunnel.

"What's the matter, Cursed One?" Kyokotsu called. "Maybe if your little bar whore knew what a coward you were she'd let me devour her instead."

Anger boiled inside Miroku as the giant of a man howled in laughter. Using that as his opening the monk jumped onto the hood of the jeep. Immediately the serpent blade came his way the same time as Kyokotsu released his ball and chain. Miroku dove to the right with the blade following. Barely getting low enough to avoid the chain he landed hard on the ground leveling his gun with the giants head and pulling the trigger. Above him the sound of the chain raddled as Jaks swore on everything that could be named. Kyokotsu reached forward as if to steady himself then the giant of a man fell back dead.

Miroku sprang to his feet and ran to the rear of the jeep trying to get a clear shot at Jaks. He didn't notice that Suikotsu was on the move heading his way fast. The ex-doctor was armed with fuax claws that would do very real damage. Before Miroku could get in position stinging spread across him back from his left shoulder blade down across his spine ending at his right hip causing him to drop the gun he had in his hand. Reaching quickly in to the store of weapons Miroku pulled a loaded semi-automatic. Swinging around before his opponent could embed his claws, Miroku pointed the gun at Suikotsu's gun and pulled the trigger. The rapid fire of the semi-auto at such close range shredded the other man's insides splattering blood back on Miroku. The look of surprise was frozen on the former doctor's face as his raised hand feel limp at his side and his knees gave way before the body toppled to the ground with a thump.

Panting from the pain, Miroku moved as quick as he could to the side of the jeep for more cover so he could survey the other's. Inuyasha was fighting Banks head on in a dynamic sword duel. Koga was being double teamed by Renkotsu's fire strings and Jaks', now free, serpant blade. What he found to be the strangest thing was that Ginkotsu wasn't making a move at all. The part metal man was standing still a few yards away from the fighting just watching. Then Miroku realized that Mukotsu was no where to be seen. Almost frantically the monk turned Kagome's direction. The young princess stood with her hands clutched to her chest as her eyes followed the fighting going on around her. Her eyes found his and he could see the realization dawn on her face as the worry crossed his. He was wounded, but even if that weren't the case he would have never reached her in time physically. Raising his weapon he sent a quick prayer that he hadn't been over zealous in his firing before. A single crack of the gun rang out joined by a single scream as the speed from the bullet was felt where it skimmed the lower left pocket of Kagome's pants.

Kagome heard a groan behind her. Turning she took an instinctive step away which proved to be what Miroku needed. By the time Kagome hear the sound of the gun shot the creepy man before her had a new bullet wound in his throat. The bullet had clearly severed an artery, his blood poured red and vicious from the wound as the man stumbled forward towards the princess.

She was horrified as the man fell to her forest floor dead. Slowly she turned her gaze to the men fighting to protect themselves, to protect her. Miroku was sitting on the ground next to the rear driver side tire of the jeep. His eyes were closed and his breathing was heavy, grasping the gun in his hands like a life line. Koga was using every ounce of speed to avoid the fire and steel coming his way but Kagome could see the marks on his skin that showed when he hadn't been fast enough or had miscalculated his opponent. As she watched she could see that he was slowing down, he was breathing harder than before, out thinking two was proving to be at great cost. Before her eyes, as he dodged the steel sword coming his way his ankles were wrapped by the fire strings. Though he cut them off quickly the burns to his skin were being aggitated when he started moving quickly once again. Not far behind where Koga had landed was Inuyasha. He and the man who had been called Banks were slashing at each other with enormous swords.

Kagome's heart clinched as the man named Banks struck Inuyasha's sword over and over again forcing the hanyou prince backwards one step at a time until he and Koga were practically back to back. The boom of cannon fire echoed through the wood. Screaming Kagome threw her hands out in front of her as she watched the artillery shell fall directly for the two.

Inuyasha watched in confusion as metal rained down on the other members of the band of seven. Focusing his eyes on Banks he noticed something was seperating them. Looking around at the others he noticed that the air was shimmering nearly green between his men and their enemy.

"What the hell's happening?" Koga asked.

Before Inuyasha could say anything he saw dark green vines growing up from the ground around Banks feet. The mercenary slashed at the vines but more grew quickly winding up his legs, incasing his entire body. The hanyo could hear the muffled shouts of Banks and the others, but the sound eventually faded into nothing. Slowly the green cocoon holding the leader of the seven began sinking into the ground. Turning his gaze he saw the other three were sinking as well.

Inuyasha turned again to find Kyokotsu's and Suikotsu's bodies were also sinking. Finally he looked towards Kagome. There the princess stood, the forest bowing away from her as her hair waved wildly in a breeze he couldn't feel, while Mukotsu's body sank behind her.

Tears ran down her flushed cheeks as her hands seemed frozen in front of her. Carefully Inuyasha allowed his sword to transform so he could sheathe it. Slowly, with planned steps Inuyasha walked towards Kagome. It was almost as if she couldn't see him. When he directly in front of her she flinced, shifting her eyes to him. They raged, those storm grey eyes of her. He was captivated by those eyes but they were not seeing him at that moment and he knew it. She was seeing the men that she had just killed. The men that had been trying to kill him. She had done it to save him and his friends, it was hurting her inside and he could see it.

Reaching out he grabbbed her hands, gently lacing his clawed fingers with hers, he called her name. She didn't here the first time but the second time she blinked. Gasping her eyes seemed to focus on him.

"St-".

Before she could finish Inuyasha lifted his mask. "It's me, Kagome." She nodded before she collasped into his arm.

Koga had watched in amazment as the forest behind Kagome bowed and flexed as she fell into Inuyasha's arms. Looking behind him he noticed that the tint to the air had vanished as well. Then reality hit. The were in the Eastern Forest, the princess of the forest had just used a massive amount of power and her father's guard were not only looking for her but tracking her through her power.

Rushing over to the jeep Koga found Miroku half conscious. The back of his shirt was torn and bloody. Koga grabbed a bag from the back floor board and threw as many guns and rounds of ammo in that he could. Swinging Miroku over his shoulders as carefully as he could the wolf walked over to where Inuyasha was.

Inuyasha shifted Kagome so he could carry her in his arms and the two princes took off. They ran deeper into the forest. They ran swiftly and silently, putting as much distance between them and where Kagome's power would still be felt before dark fell.

At the castle in the Eastern Forest...

As darkness fell over the Eastern Forest, the King and Queen were found in the war room speaking with their generals when the arrival of Major General Takeshi and the saytr Aoi was announced. Colonel Isamu waited in the courtyard to inform the other squads of what was happening as all the squads had been called back to the capital. The princess's power had been felt with in their boarders and now they were waiting for their orders.

Daphne insisted they dismiss all the others from the room the moment she saw what Aoi carried in his hand. Haro complied with his queen's wishes bidding his generals a good evening.

As soon as the last man left and the door was closed Aoi rushed across the room to kneel before his Queen extending the card while he bowed his head.

Daphne couldn't breath as she felt behind her for a chair. Haro noticing his wife's distress guided her to a seat. "This can't be." She whispered as she stared at the card baring the lovers.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I do not understand the significance of one simply card of divination." Takeshi said standing at attention with his hand behind his back.

"You may both relax." King Haro said as he took his eyes from his wife to address both men for a moment. "Major General Takeshi, what you are about to be told, what you are about to see must stay in this room until you are told other wise." Takeshi nodded his head though he was unsure about the strangely tired tone of his king.

Daphne's eyes turned pleadingly to Aoi, who was still kneeling at her feet. Reaching her hand forward she cupped the side of the saytr's face. "Show me what you have seen." She commanded in a whisper.

Immediately the queen's head fell backwards as she was bombarded with the images from Aoi's mind. Their jorney through the desert, the heat, the sand, the dry air. The towns the unfriendly people. The strange looks he recieved, the lude comments from women and men. Then the overwhelming blast of Kagome's power. It was a beacon. The princess had called her people to her. But she wasn't there. Daphne watched through Aoi's eyes as Isamu and Takeshi spoke with many villagers leading them to a tavern/inn. He had stayed back letting the Major General and the Colonel speak with patrons and the female owner. Aoi picked up immediately on the princess's presence inside the building and eventually Takeshi signalled him and the two followed the owner up the stairs. The room nearest the back exit. It wasn't the room the owner stopped at but it was the room the princess had been in. The owner unlocked it but Aoi didn't allowed her to open it. When she left the door was opened and the saytr knew he had been right. After walking into the room he was froze by the princess's power.

Daphne let go of Aoi as if his cheek had burned her hand. There was a message of magic her daughter had hidden in Aoi that she was sure the saytr had no knowledge of himself. She closed her eyes as tears gently slid down her cheeks. Kagome planned to face this evil on her own. She would not be returning to them before the ceremony.

Haro saw the state of his wife and decided to allow her a few moments to compose herself. Turning back to Takeshi he saw the Major General standing in complete shock. "Takeshi, you know that the Queen is from another people and that her people have magic. What you don't know is that her people are a people who live in this very kingdom and always have. The things we humans speak of as myths, nymphs, gnomes, trolls, fairies, saytrs," Haro said gesturing to Aoi who was resting his head on his arm as he remained kneeling by the queen, "they are very real."

The soldier looked wide eyed at his queen and her servant. Yes, it was known that Queen Daphne was different, not a demon, not believed to be human, but to be something from a fairy tale? Then he looked at Aoi. The strange man he had been traveling with for two days, the man who ate little in the desert but drank enough water to fill a small lake, he was a saytr.

Haro notice Takeshi look Aoi over, focused on his legs and bare, very human looking feet. "There are things that have become elaborated over the years." King Haro nearly chuckled knowing satyr's were said to be half goat, half man. "Here is what is most improtant. My father made a pact, a promise of power with the Queen who ruled those peoples and the Queen who rules the peoples who live under the ocean waves. The princess Kikyo is like your princess. Her mother is from the sea and Kikyo holds the power from that union. The girls are the keys to these Kingdoms peace and solidarity. The pact of magic was once placed in danger and has required a promise from each groups leading families that it will be protected, or it will fade away. The princesses have gone every spring equinox to renew that promise since they came of age. The Queen and I doubt the pact will accept us in her place. Without Kagome the pact will bagin to fade of it's own accord and the consequences could be devistating to the kingdoms."

Takeshi reached for the chair next to him before falling heavily into it. He knew the king had given him the shortest version of what was going on at that alone was nearly overwhelming, he didn't want to think about what the full version was. But that left the question, "What does the card mean?".

Daphne, who had composed herself as her husband spoke, stood from her seat. Gently laying a hand on Aoi's shoulder, the saytr rose and as he walked towards the wall he faded from view as if he had never been there at all.

Takeshi jumped from his chair, his eyes glued as wide open as they coud be. "What the he-"

"Careful soldier." King Haro warned as his man looked at his monarchs before looking at the wall and then back to the Queen.

Carefully she laid the card on the table so that both men could see. "The Lovers." Daphne said in a sad voice. "Unlike the humans of the kingdom, my people and the people of the sea have never been allowed to forget what happened. Unlike humans we do not have to live in this one realm, on this one plain. We teach the history of the separation through tarot cards. The pictures are easy for the young to remember and then things through life will always remind them of what was lost." Daphne looked to her husband. He had sat many times and listened to the story as she had told it to Kagome, but he never knew the version she had only told Kagome once she had began the ceremony. "There are two stories that are told. One is the promise of vengeance the dying queen cursed the demon with. Vengeance brought on by two young lovers. The other is that one of the lovers will give their life for the other to defeat the demon and end the pact. The sacrifice of love is said to be able to end the pact without destroying the peace in all the kingdoms."

The three in the room fell into a deep silence of thought. It seemed Kagome believed that this was the work of the demon from ages ago but who was the other person that would be with her? As far as her parents knew she was not in love with anyone.

"Tell about the people who have taken her, Takeshi." Haro asked.

The Major General was slightly shaken by the change of subject but quickly caught on. "Your Majesties, it's thought that she has been taken by the Steel Fang."

Both parents gasped in surprise at the unexpected news. They knew logically that the south had to bring in mercenaries to do what had been done but they had never expected this group to be the ones holding their daughter.

Looking back at the card of the lovers the queen couldn't help but wonder what her daughter had truly meant by it.

 **A/N: I'm going to end this one here. Sorry about how long this update took. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: So here we are again! I am so sorry for how long this has taken. Fingers crossed that I will get this all finished soon. But at the least here is another chapter. I hope everyone will be happy with the way things turn out!**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter 5**

Deep in the Eastern Forest...

Koga and Inuyasha had been able to find a secluded place in a hidden grove not far from a stream. Miroku had been out of it for the most of the night. By the wee hours of the morning he had developed a high fever. Kagome on the other hand had slept peacefully. Both princes figured it was from the excitement of the day. It was a safe bet to say she had never seen battle or taken lives, she was a princess after all. If she had been a princess from one of the Northern kingdoms she might have had some experience in both, but the East was know for it's extremely peaceful nature so it was a safe bet that all of this was new to her.

An hour or so before dawn Kagome awoke. At first she was confused about why she was in the forest and then everything came back to her. She had killed people. She had used her magic to end the lives of men. She felt sick to her stomach. Trying to find her feet, she shuffled about frantically before she was able to stand holding a hand to her mouth and willing herself to get away from her bedding. The princess rushed to the nearest bush and threw up. Her stomach was mostly empty and she dry heaved for quite a time before her body calmed down.

Kagome felt horrible as wiped her hair away from her face. Her whole body was shaking slightly as she righted herself. Turning around she realized her less than flattering moment had witnesses. Blushing a small amount, because honestly she was to exhausted to care too much, she forced a faint smile for the men sitting next to the small fire.

"I'm sorry." Kagome said in a low voice as she approached them. Inuyasha sat close too where she saw her bedding, Koga sat on the other side of the fire with who she assumed was Miroku laying next to him. "Is he alright?" She asked as she furrowed her eyebrows.

Inuyasha and Koga both looked towards the monk. They knew he needed real medical help but any hospitals were miles away. The boys had done the best that they could patching him up but they didn't have any medicine on them and neither of them knew about what kind of herbs would help, that was Miroku's thing.

"He's got a fever even though the wound isn't all that deep or infected. I think there was some kind of poison on the blades used." Inuyasha said as he offered the young woman a bottle of water.

"We don't know herb or plants at all really." Koga said hesitantly. He saw her power, she had magic over the forest. "Can you help him?"

Kagome was surprised that they were asking for her help but when she looked at Inuyasha she saw the torn and worried look he had as he stared at his companion. "Yes, I can help him."

Inuyasha and Koga both noticeably perked up at her words. Even though she had agreed to go with them willingly, had protected them, they had their doubts that she would want to help someone who put her in such a position. A position where she killed people. That was their job not hers.

Before either guy could say anything more Kagome got up and walked around the fire to where Miroku laid. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was raged. It was clear if she didn't get ahead of the poison now there would be nothing to do for him later. "I will have to use my power." She warned them. After seeing what she could do, Kagome was worried that they'd be scared of her. "There is no time to search out the herbs I need, he will die if I take that kind of time." Kagome explained as she quickly unlaced her boot so that she could remove them and her socks. "I need something to grind the herbs in and something to grind them with." Koga began digging in the bag next to him as she continued her list. "I need boiled water and cold water as well as new bandages."

Inuyasha dug in the cooler Sango had sent and pulled out one of the metal bowls she had sent for them to eat out of. Quickly he handed it over to Koga before pulling another out to fill with water and set on the fire. Koga found the rest of the bandages that were in the bottom of the bag of weapons he had grabbed from the jeep but the only thing he found for her to grind with was the butt of one of the hand guns.

Kneeling next to the injured man, Kagome laid all the things out next to her on the forest floor. She was trying not to think too hard about the gun she was going to have to touch, not that a gun was more dangerous than she felt at the moment. Her biggest worry was that the forest would not respond to her now because of what had happened. Taking a deep breath, Kagome closed her eyes as her fingers caressed their way into the grass next to her knees. The tips of her fingers touched the cool, damp earth, slowly exhaling Kagome opened her heart and silently begged the forest to let her save the life of the man next to her. Slowly the forest floor around her began to spring up new growths. Plants and herbs of various kinds grew up next to where Kagome knelt. They sprang up in three neat little rows.

The two canine demons watched with a fair amount of amazement as small leafy pants and small flowering plants grew, some only starting their life cycle, some blooming, still some sprang up just to wither and die.

"What do all these do?" Koga questioned as the princess picked at certain parts of each different plant laying them out, even pulling some up at the roots.

"I need help rolling him over completely." Was the only answer that either of them received as Kagome pulled the blanket off of the injured man and laid it beside him to give her more room. It seemed every movement was hurting him but she knew it had to be done. She found grace in the fact that the sun was rising and that she would have enough light to see with as she began to do what she had never done outside of supervised lessons.

At the coast of the Eastern Sea...

Miles from the palace, a formation of black SUVs slowly rolled to a halt. Ten in total lined up on the empty beach. A few yards away was a monumental archway that stood between the the dry beach and the ocean. It was an ancient dedication to the ocean herself that humans had created long, long before the pact was made. Two pillars of solid, white mable with grey veins stood more than ten feet high and seven feet apart. On top was another piece of solid marble, carved into a rectangle shape with two feet hanging over each side. Two large lamps burned in front of each pillar powered by the magic of the sea.

Kikyo looked out of the darkened window at the sea and the gateway. There were baskets of breads and fruits close to the gateway. A long standing tradition of things the humans left. Long ago the three villages closest to this part of the sea would leave offerings to the gods and goddesses the humans believed ruled the sea. Back then the nereids would sneak baskets of fish into those three villages, two villages rested ten miles from the gate, one in each direction along the coast and one that rested ten miles in land. The daughters of the waves would leave their baskets at the religious sights for them food to be given to the needy.

Around the time of the Great Wars the humans learned that there were not gods or goddesses in the sea but kings and queens as there were on land. The baskets continued, though simply as trade not as offering. When Lelia became queen of the land near the sea, she began food shelters for the nereids to safely leave baskets without worry about being seen. The shelters were build near the edges of the villages so the nereids would no longer have to enter the towns and risk possible harm. The beauty of the nereids had the down fall of causing some human men to act insensibly.

Thirty of the guards stepped from the vehicles and began to secure the beach, the movement stopped the princess' thoughts as she focused on what was happening around her. Though unlikely, land mines were a worry on the miles and miles of open sand. As expected there weren't any. Kikyo sat in her car watching silently as the guards her father sent divided before forming a barrier around her door. She couldn't see around the men's heads to tell if the other half was close. A signal must have been given, though she missed it, because her driver and guard in the front exited the vehicle before her door was opened.

Stepping her bare feet out onto the sun warmed sand, Kikyo took a moment to begin the connection with the ocean that she was longing for. The moment was short live though, as she could feel the last guard slide out of the SUV behind her. She stepped forward and the guards around the SUV tightened their circle around her. It was uncomfortable walking the distance with men gathered so tightly beside her, but being a princess she was used to it happening from time to time. Relief came swift when they reached the front of the gate and the men parted. Kikyo could see the ocean at the end of the line of bodies causing a smile to gently cross her lips. The water glittered and sparkled as the early morning sun rose up out of it, letting its rays stretch out across it. The gate framed it all like a beautiful picture that wanted to hold the moment but the moment wouldn't be held. It was tragically beautiful to the sea princess. She knew that moments, no matter how beautiful, could never last. As everything in the world grows and withers to fade, the sunrise eventually turns to a sunset, the ocean water becomes rain, youth becomes age, not even love can run from the circle as it eventually is lost.

The soft wind gently tossed Kikyo's unbound hair as she looked to her right. There she saw the line the other half of the guards had formed and there walking between them was her mother. Kikyo knew her mother loved her father greatly but the young princess was no fool, she knew that her mother would long out live her father. Cursed with years of a near immortal, forced to carry the memories of love lost and a broken heart. Kikyo had a strong feeling that it would be at the point of her father's death that her mother would forever return to the sea. And what hope for happiness was there then for her? Cursed with similar longevity, destined to be Queen of the land but forever princess of the sea. What kind of future was there for her really? Torn between two worlds though not really part of either.

"Do not think so hard about what you are too young to understand or have no power to change." Lelia said as she stopped beside her daughter. Kikyo had become lost in thought and her emotionally drawn face told the Queen all she needed to know. "For now let us focus on the threat to us all. We have to take care of the present so the future can take care of itself."

With that said the Queen stepped through the invisible barrier that was the gate. Kikyo drew a breath trusting her mother's words. Before she followed through, she turned to the guard, "Be cautious of all. We will return in as soon as we can."

The guard took up a semicircle formation around the gate, half facing the princess while the other half faced the opposite direction and as their princess disappeared through it they all took a breath. One half of the mission was completed for them, all they had to do was see the princess and the Queen safely back to the palace.

In the South...

Naraku raved about the sun room his estate home near the angry southern sea. That Fang was turning out to be the worse mistake he had made in decades. The little bastard was not handing over the princess and it seemed he was not abandoning her so that someone else could take her either. Naraku had even bothered to hire the next best group of mercenaries and now they were DEAD!

"Kagura!" He growled out at the female who was leaning against the door frame across the brightly lit sitting room.

"Yes, Lord Naraku?" The woman asked in a sarcastic tone.

The spider turned and narrowed his red eyes at the demoness. She was clad in black, skin tight, leather pants that shined in the rooms light. She wore a jade colored tank top that matched her jade bead earrings and the feathered, jade bead hair pin that held her black hair up. Her feet were bare and she held a fan in right hand.

Naraku's nostrils flared as he looked at the infuriating female. She had failed, though he wasn't surprised. She had proved herself less and less useful as the years had rolled on. Still he knew she would go and do most of what he demanded.

"Tell me what happened to Bankotsu and his gang?" Naraku asked eyeing the demoness carefully.

Sighing in annoyance Kagura pushed off of the door frame and crossed the annoyingly bright room. The whites and pastels Narkau had in his home drove her crazy. Who was he trying to impress anyways? Everyone in the Southern Kingdom knew his heart and soul were as inky black as his hair.

"As I told you before, the band of seven followed the mercenary, The Steel Fang, into the desert. At some point it seemed that the leader, Bankotsu, realized where Fang was heading with the princess. He lead his group ahead to intercept them there." Kagura narrowed her equally red eyes at the spider questioning her. He knew she was hiding something. The question for her was how much to hide. "They used the spell beads you gave them to mask their presence. It worked they got the drop on Fang and it appeared that they were going to be able to take the princess."

Naraku walked over the sofa that sat between him and Kagura. Placing his hands on the back, he leaned forward, "Then do tell me, oh mistress of the wind, why am I NOT looking at the princess Kagome right now?".

Rolling her eyes, the wind sorceress walked over to the window farthest from the demon lord. "The Steel Fang seemed very protective of the princess, moving her a good distance from the fight immediately. The Cursed One was a real crack shot, though he took on some damage and may not make it. The Wolf's Howl lived up to his reputation for speed. Still they were out numbered and over powered. Until the forest itself came to life and attacked them to protect The Steel Fang and his men."

"What?" Naraku asked slowly, truly curious. He hadn't thought the princess would be capable of such things. The queen yes, but not the princess.

"The power came from the princess. There is no doubt about that." Kagura said as she opened the large second story window. "They disappeared into the forest after the vines pulled the bodies of the Band of Seven into the ground. It seems to me you underestimated her powers."

The wind demoness drew a feather from her hair before jumping out of the window. In the solitude left behind Naraku thought over what was said. The princess had complete power over the forest and she had killed for the sake of this Steel Fang and his men. He had his doubts that it was something she had done lightly. Now that they were in the forest maybe the key to her, should he say assistance, would be this mercenary.

In the Eastern Forest...

Miroku was resting comfortably. Kagome had worked for nearly three hour mixing herbs, forcing the monk to drink some of them and applying a paste of others to his back. His fever broke not long after she had given what turned out to be the first dose of four rounds of medicine. Inuyasha had been impressed with how she had blocked out everything but helping the person in front of her. His original thoughts of how she was just another princess were getting tested left and right and he wasn't sure what to do with that.

Emotions weren't something he liked to spend a lot of time dwelling on. Hence why his line of work was so perfect. There wasn't meant to be a lot of emotion involved in being a merc. Yet, here he was risking his men and his life to save the princess he kidnapped. Why? Well, if you asked him out right he'd say because whatever was in the works would most likely effect the entire realm not just one or two families, hell not even just one or two kingdoms. If he was being honest with himself, it had more to do with Kagome herself. There was something about her that was drawing him in no matter how much he wanted it to leave him alone.

Currently Koga and Kagome were about twenty yards away at a small creek. Kagome had asked to be allowed to wash and even though the hanyou hadn't really wanted to send the wolf, he knew that he himself couldn't go. So the two had disappeared through the underbrush while he sat watching the monk. Inuyasha would never be able to thank Kagome for what she did. Miroku was the closest thing to a true friend that the hanyou prince had, the wolf didn't count. Princes were never really friends with each other, just allies.

Inuyasha sighed to himself as he lounged in a low branch of a tree near Miroku. He had to come up with a plan of attack. Focusing on a plan of attack would take his mind from the path of the mushy crap that kept trying to flood his brain. Action was what he was best at, that's who he was. That's who he had been for years, it was who he had to be now. The realm was in danger, clearly his friends were targets now, and Kagome...

Growling at himself he dragged his clawed hand down his face. "Fucking hell."

Not far away at a small creek, Koga could hear Inuyasha growling and cursing himself. The Wolf snickered as he kept his back turned to his charge. As tempting as it was to turn around and sneak a peek, he wasn't about to risk it after what he saw her do with the forest.

Kagome was grateful for the illusion of privacy that Prince Koga was allowing her as she sat nude on a large stone chest deep in the creek. She had gotten blood on her clothing and her person from helping Miroku. The clothes were ruined she had decided after she had washed her hands and arms. That was how she had ended up naked in the water. After stripping down she had chosen to take a minute to soak and Koga hadn't objected when she asked if he minded.

She gathered the pants in her hands so she could wash them as well but a small lump in the lower right pocket of her pants got her attention. Curious she slowly retrieved the item from inside the material. Kagome's hand flew to her mouth to try and stifle the gasp she made when she looked at the bobble.

"Everything alright, Kagome?" Koga asked fighting the urge to look over his shoulder.

Kagome jumped as she made a fist around the trinket. "Yes!" She replied quickly.

"Are you sure?" The wolf prince asked as he began to turn, her voice sounding as if there was indeed something wrong.

"Please don't turn around!" Kagome almost screamed as she looked his way and saw his shoulders twisting. Koga listened and snapped back around to her relief.

Rubbing his fore finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose he pinched his eyes shut. "Alright, but can we finish up and head back. That damn Mutt is probably getting antsy."

Kagome climbed out of the water, the thought of washing her clothes completely abandoned. She was having trouble not glaring at Koga. She could tell by his tone he was joking but still, "You shouldn't speak that way."

Koga was confused for a moment until he realized she was talking about his nickname for Inuyasha. Sighing he tried to explain,"Look, Kag-"

"Can you walk a little ways back towards the camp? I need a little, um, extra privacy." Kagome asked hoping he would assume she needed to pee and leave it at that.

Luckily for her that's exactly what he figured. With a short 'be quick and yell if anything happens', Kagome was left alone. Moving quickly she gathered some vines to cover her immediate nudity. Then holding the stone close to her lips she whispered, "Thea.", then just as quickly she whispered, "Thae.". Then with wide eyes she watched the forest floor. She hoped that the small amount of time between the spell deactivating and reactivating was enough for anyone close to feel her.

Soon she heard small shuffling close to the underbrush. Kagome held her breath as the sound grew nearer. Finally the sound was getting close to where she sat.

"Please, feel my power.", Kagome whispered as she stood up. Waving her hand slowly over the front of her body the vines spread over her, up and down, becoming thinner as they transformed into a pale green dress. Worrying her lip, her eyes scanned the forest for some sign whoever was close, would feel her.

"Your Highness?" A small voice called as one tiny clawed hand followed by another crawled out of the underbrush.

Kagome rushed over and placed her hand with the stone in it over the tiny hand. "I am here."

Bright emerald eyes blinked up at the princess as the young fox crawled out from his hiding place. "Princess Kagome!"

Koga came back to check on what was taking her so long. "Kagome, we need to get back now..."He saw Kagome jump from her squatted position, spinning around to face him. "Damn it." He said with real feeling as his eyes looked on the new comer to the party wrapped up in her arms.

"I'm sorry, but I need my parents to know I'm alright." Kagome pleaded as has held they young forest demon.

Koga growled under his breath causing the fox to shiver in the princess' arms. Spirited was right, damn this woman was trouble Koga thought but what he said was, "Come on then.".

Even though his tone wasn't happy Kagome smiled in relief. Standing up she kept the kit in her arms and the stone in her hand. She wasn't sure what she would do with it but that was a problem for later anyways.

In the Middle Kingdom...

Lord Akatoki, his son, and their personal guard arrived at the capital city, Pathmos, as noon day came to the peaceful tranquility that was the Middle Kingdom. Though it was the Panther's territory, it had become a melting pot of humans and demons alike. It was a hub in which many traveled from there to other kingdoms. That was what the men from the East were there to do. First they would meet with the Panther's, then they would go to West, followed by the to kingdoms in the North.

The small party was received at the palace and immediately shown to the meeting hall. Lord Akatoki was surprised to find not only the Queen of the Middle Kingdom, but that the King of the West, the King of the Northern mountain and the King of the Northern valley all there waiting.

"Your Majesties." The Eastern Lord greeted as he bowed, the action was followed by the people with him.

"Rise, the time for formality can wait." The elderly king of the Northern Valley said in a deep raspy voice.

Toran, the most diplomatic of the Panther's gestured for all the men to sit at the table in the middle of the room. "Lord Akatoki, I believe that you are here on business relating to all of the kingdoms."

"This is true, Your Higness." Akatoki confirmed an edge of urgency in his voice as he sat down. "The South has been involved in an atrocious act of dishonor."

"The South is not known for its honor. What could have happened to require this Sesshomaru to travel to the home of the cats?" Sesshomaru asked leveling the humans with an impatient glare.

"You are always such an unmannered pup." Toran replied causing the dog king to shift his gaze.

"Please," Hojo begged, interrupting the two's staring contest, "the princess Kagome has been kidnapped. They demand a betrothal or her death. If a betrothal is not announced the capture of the princess Kikyo has been threatened. We don't know how far the South will go in this mad grab for power. We do not know if the daughters of your kingdoms are in danger as well."

The room was silent as young Hojo's words were weighed in the minds of each leader. It was indeed an atrocious act of dishonor.

"Is the East asking for allies?" Toran asked. "Is this meeting a call for war?"

Hojo looked to his father. Lord Akatoki nodded briefly to his son as he stood to face the leaders gathered. "This is not a call for war. The King of the Eastern Forest and his Queen are insistent that this is to simply be a sharing of information. They want all of you to be prepared. All of you to protect your loved ones so that the tragedy that has befallen our kingdom will not befall yours."

"Lord Akatoki, I am sure the Queen has rooms ready for you and your people. Please, rest. This body has much to speak about." The king of the Northern Mountain said politely.

The Lord nodded at the request for the room to be cleared. He signaled for all those who had traveled with him and they quietly left the room. Outside of the door waited a handful of servants who lead them away.

"Are we simply going to sit by and let the East handle this trouble all on their own?" Toran asked the kings who remained.

"This Sesshomaru sees no reason to join a war that has not been declared." Sesshomaru said as he steepled his fingers on the top of the solid oak table in front of him.

"You don't have to always be such a cold hearted asshole." Toran said crossing her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at the Dog king.

"It is not being cold. It is protecting what is mine." Sesshomaru answered back in a harsh tone.

"Though no war has been outwardly declared, we can all agree this is an attack on the Forest Kingdom." The Elder of the Valley said his voice commanding the attention of the bickering two.

"I agree. This is an attack on one of our allies. We should return to our homes and prepare for war." The king of the Northern Mountain stated.

There was no argument to be made. Even if there was no large scale war waged, having their armies ready and being extra vigilant would keep their people and their families safest.

"Why do you think the Eastern Forest was targeted? Surely the Sea princess would have been easier to take." Toran postulated aloud.

"Maybe there was no chance to take her and a chance for the other came first." The King of the Valley said.

"It is possible either would serve the South's purpose." Sesshomaru spoke up as he relaxed in his chair. "We all know well the tales of the East, the truth that they asked us to conceal. It is possible whoever is behind this has found out about the pact and is seeking the power."

The others thought over what the young King said. It would be a terrible thing for the power hidden in the East to fall into the wrong hands.

"If you are right, then war is the least of our worries." The Mountain King reminded them, with a grave look upon his face.

In the Eastern Forest...

Koga walked into the camp grumbling under his breath. He didn't have to say anything, Inuyasha smelled the new comer as soon as they had entered the small clearing.

"What the hell is going on?" He growled jumping down from the tree branch to land in front of the princess.

"Princess Kagome, is this the man who stole you?" The young kit asked quivering in the young woman's arms.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome. He didn't know what she would say, after all the kit was right. She looked at him and smiled before turning her attention to the kit. "No little one, these men are the ones who saved me. These two are princes." She said pointing to Inuyasha and Koga. "The man over there is a monk. He is very ill and I need Marlena to come here at once."

"Why can't you call for her, Majesty?" Shippo asked looking at the young princess with wide green eyes.

Kagome walked away from Inuyasha and sat down near the fire with the fox still in her arms. "We are hiding. There is magic that is keeping us from being seen. If our people can find me then there is a chance the evil man looking for me will follow my power and find me as well."

The two mercenaries watched as the youth nodded as if he had full understanding. Both princes were impressed with how the Kagome was handling the questions he had. Inuyasha was glad she wasn't revealing too much.

"We will not move from this spot but when I put you down we will disappear. Can you make a bell yet, little one?" Kagome asked in all seriousness.

"You can call me Shippo! I can make more than a bell. I practice everyday!" He said excitedly.

Kagome smiled brightly at the child. "Good, you should be. Now when you get back with Marlena I want you to come into the open and ring your bell. I will grab both of your hands but you won't see me before that, so please let Marlena know." Shippo nodded vigorously, he was excited to be helping the princess. "Go now, please, time is of the utmost importance.

The princess opened her arms for the kit to climb off of her lap. He was worried that once he left her she would be gone again. Looking at the demons standing on the other side of the fire pit he worried even more. They didn't look like what he figured princes looked like, but the low groan from the man on the ground reminded him of his mission. He had to trust that the princess would be there when he returned. Jumping from her lap he turned around to look at where Kagome sat. Not only was she invisible but the entire camp was.

Kagome watched the kit as his eyes carefully searched the area clearly not seeing them anymore. He used one of his tiny claws to cut a strip off of his vest and tied it to a branch closest to him. Kagome smiled at his action. He nodded satisfied with his work and then took off into the underbrush, fading into the green of the forest as spirit he was.

"Where'd he fucking go?" Koga asked as he stared out over the forest. The small fox was no where in site. Not even a rustle of leaves on the forest floor could be heard.

"For princes you two have some horrible language." Kagome said as she got up to check on Miroku.

"Nice dress." Inuyasha said as he jumped back up to the branch he had be relaxing on.

Kagome blushed mildly at his compliment though she told herself she shouldn't read too much into his words. "There was a lot of blood on my clothes. Oh no! I left my clothes at the river." Kagome said worriedly. She didn't like leaving things laying around the forest to litter things up.

"I'll get them." Koga said. He also wanted to see if he could track the path that the fox had taken.

"Thank you." The princess answered genuinely as she bent down to inspect Miroku's dressing.

"Who is Marlena?" Inuyasha asked as he watched her from the corner of his eye.

Kagome sat back up and sighed. There wasn't much more she could keep hidden from him. He was going to just keep having questions. "Marlena is the lead healer of my Mother's people."

"The unseen." He replied not in question but statement.

Kagome hid a smile. So he had been listening. "Yes, the unseen."

"But not fairies?" Inuyasha turned so his shoulder was resting against the tree and he could face her more fully.

"All I said was that I was not a fairy." Kagome said as she took a look at another bandage on Miroku.

"So your Mother's people are fairies but you're not. How does that work?"

"You're a dog demon, are your people only dog demons?" She countered looking over her shoulder with a smirk.

"I see your point. So-"

"So what exactly are you, Princess?" Koga interrupted. "Or your people for that matter? I can't track the kit at all. Any trace of him is gone. How?"

Kagome looked at the second prince as he walked over to lean against the tree Inuyasha was still resting in. They were royals and surely the kings of their countries knew the truth of her mother. Still she was risking more than they knew once you added in the magic the West had. "Your sovereign word that you will be my allies no matter what. That you will work with me to uphold peace and that you will protect the secrets of my kingdom as if they were the secrets of your own."

Inuyasha jumped down from the tree. The entire forest seemed to hold it's breath as Kagome stood up to meet them on the same level. She carried all the grace of her title as she waited their answer. Koga looked at Inuyasha, the wolf prince knew his answer. After witnessing her power, having her allied to his lands would be a great benefit. Inuyasha returned the look of the wolf prince, but for himself he had no land to protect and only his blade to offer in protection of hers. Still he knew, some how he knew he would pledge that blade to her protection anytime she asked.

"You have my sovereign word." Koga said as he kneeled.

"And you also have mine. We will guard your secret and uphold your peace." Inuyasha said as he kneeled as well.

"It is not my peace alone but peace for all the kingdoms." Kagome said with a smile. Both demons stood at her words but it was easy to see she was still warring with in herself.

Kagome gnawed her bottom lip for a moment. She wouldn't only be sharing secrets of her kingdom but secrets of her uncle's kingdom. Still she had their word as princes of their kingdoms, sure they had abandoned said kingdoms, but something told her that they were loyal to their homes in their hearts. Also they had saved her when they could have easily handed her over to whoever had hired them. It clearly wasn't something that they usually did or else their reputation would not be what filled with that horrible things she had heard. The sight of Inuyasha decapitating the moth demon in the desert flashed through her mind.

Shaking her head slightly she fought through the image, they had only a little time and she was wasting it. "Shippo's ancestors would have been normal demons from another kingdom long before the boundaries were made. During a time when different magic was more common. Beings didn't only marry their own kind but love spread through all higher level creatures. So with time Shippo's ancestors bloodline changed as they became something more than what they had been. There are many and they are protectors for most inherited demonic abilities.

As the boundaries began to form creating separate kingdoms, the ones who wished to remain hidden became the unseen and as with your kingdoms a rule was chosen. This forest became their home and the land allowed them to become one with it." Kagome spoke carefully as she began revealing history that had been forgotten even within her father's kingdom. Tales of the forest were now simple yarns that the oldest of old men and women told to make the young ones smile.

Koga narrowed his eyes at the princess, as if trying to see her very thoughts. "What was it they bred with exactly that could change a demons bloodline so much?"

Kagome's eyes and nostrils flared slightly at his choice of words. Even the leaves in the immediate area shook, though there was no wind in the forest. "WHO is what you meant to say. Even if you don't want to be a prince, you can afford courteous words towards other beings."

Inuyasha smirked as he raised an eyebrow and snickered. "Say something stupid earlier did ya, Puny Cub?"

"Yea!" Koga spat, moving to get more in Inuyasha's face. "I called you Mutt-Face."

Inuyasha threw his head back letting out a sharp bark of laughter, then he dropped his chin with a deadly glare towards the wolf. "You're dead." Suddenly he reached out for Koga with his claws at the ready.

Koga had expected nothing less and wasn't about to let his feet fail him now. As if he had springs in his soles, Koga jumped away from the angry half demon and sprinted backwards. He never turned his face from Inuyasha, mainly so he could mock the dog.

Kagome blinked slowly at the boys, yes they had suddenly turned into little boys running about teasing each other. Now they were the ones wasting time. Shippo would be back soon with Marlena and Kagome didn't want to be answering questions in front of them. The reason was mostly because she would be bending if not actually breaking many of the laws her grandfather had set in place for the people's protection.

Gently the princess raised a tree root that Koga wouldn't see. As she predicted he tripped over it while still running backwards. Inuyasha had seen the root rise, which she thought he might. So before he could pin Koga for the win Kagome swung a low tree branch his way. It had been timed perfectly, effectively ending their little game.

Looking at one prince tangled up on the ground and another draped over a tree branch by his middle Kagome cleared her throat, "Are you done?".

Inuyasha pushed off of the branch with his hands so he could get back on the ground while Koga untangled himself so he could stand. "Keh, his ass whippin' can wait." Inuyasha said as they gave her their attention.

"As I was about to say, the forest has many creatures that live here. The ones most spoken of are fairies. A fairy can be any size just like a demon can. So on that thought, the creature can be highly intelligent or more beastly, just as demons but are less likely to give in to any killer instincts. In this realm there are gnomes, trolls, sprites, whisps," Kagome paused for a moment, "satyrs and nymphs, and many other varies beings."

The hesitation that Kagome had when she said the last had been small but both males had caught it. Inuyasha walked a little closer to the princess as his golden eyes studied her. "What type of being are saytrs?"

Kagome gulped at the intensity in his gaze as he stalked closer to her. She was about to tell him exactly what he'd been wanting to know and she was terrified. "Sa...saytrs are the male companions of nymphs. Nymphs are the very spirit of the forest and their saytrs are their inspiration. During the festivals the saytrs play music and their individual rhythm draws a nymph to him. The joy he brings her may cause her to create a meadow of flowers or grant extra fruit to a bush or tree.

Not any nymph will go to any saytr. His music will only call to one female's soul. It will fill her soul and her dance will fill his. There is no other way and they don't want it any other way."

Inuyasha was nearly standing in front of Kagome, another step or two and he would be able to reach out and touch her. "The woman you sent for, is she a nymph?"

"Yes." Kagome said calmly.

"Will her saytr follow?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why would he?" Kagome asked genuinely curious.

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at Koga who shared his confusion by shrugging his shoulders. "Because they are mates, right? Wouldn't he want to make sure she isn't walking into danger being called off in secret?"

Kagome looked from one demon to the other before her lessons dawned on her. "I'm not sure how to explain it exactly. They are not mates like demons mate. Yes, their souls call for the other and complete the other. But they aren't always together. The forest is a large place and in need of constant care. They may go days without the other. However they are always together on the days and nights of festivals and for the birth of their young. Since Marlena is not expecting I doubt Aoi will be with her. He is often near the palace and we are quite far from there."

Inuyasha stared at Kagome for what felt like forever to him. She had said she wasn't a fairy, it was clear she wasn't just a human, but she hadn't said what kind of creature she was. If she was a nymph did that mean she had a saytr? Was there already someone who had spoken to her soul? And why did that thought bother him so much?

"Are you a nymph, Kagome?" He asked carefully.

It was strange for Kagome to see so many emotions in one person's eyes but Inuyasha's were a sea of thoughts. She wasn't sure but for a moment she could have sworn she saw sorrow lingering in them. But why would he be sad? Did he not want her to be something other than human? "I am and yet I'm not."

"How the hell does that work?" Koga asked as he walked closer to the pair but not invading what was clearly their personal bubble.

Kagome sighed before looking over her shoulder to see if Shippo was back yet. She did not like being unable to feel the forest around her. "My father is a human king, but my mother is a queen nymph. All though technically every female born to a nymph is one as well. I'm not a pure blood, I'm what my people consider a whole-soul. There may never be a saytr for me. All of their music is lovely yet none speaks to me, so far.

In my mother's line females are considered born with half a soul and the male born at the same moment has the other. They always find each other.

As a half human my soul is thought different." Kagome said with a forced smile before she turned again to look for Shippo. 'It hardly matters now.' She thought as the much needed pair appeared from the brush with the ring of a tiny bell.

"Where did they come from?" Koga asked in a serious tone. "I didn't see or sense them."

"The people of the forest are one with the forest. They are the breeze, the trees, the underbrush. If they want to fade into their element they will. That is what it is to be unseen." Kagome stepped forward and reached for Shippo's hand as he reached through the air looking for her.

"Can you?" Inuyasha asked, but his questioned went unanswered as the princess grasped the young fox and his eyes saw the camp once again.

"I was worried you'd be gone!" The young one cried out as he dragged Marlena closer.

Marlena gasped with surprise when Kagome touched her shoulder. "Your Majesty! What a wonderful relief that you are safe! Now the celebrations can commence." Marlena said joyously as she lifted the hand from her shoulder and kissed the princess' palm. When she raised her face there was mischief in her bright green eyes. "My dear, Princess, what is this desire I feel?"

Kagome blushed brightly wrapping Marlena's hand in hers. She had forgotten Marlena's ability to read people's emotions or desires through physical touch. It was a rare gift and one that the older nymph used to help her heal others. "That is nothing but I have someone in need of serious help." Kagome lead the healer to Miroku's side.

"You did well, Kagome." Marlena said as she pulled her satchel from her back. Kagome slowly let go of her hand and was relieved that Marlena wasn't lost in the magic. If there was any change the other nymph didn't acknowledge it as she set about laying out her medicine before she reached for the young man's hand. Her loud gasp drew everyone's attention.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked as she leaned closer to the pair on the ground.

Marlena looked to the young woman with a tear trailing down her cheek. Then she looked to the men standing near. "He has lost the will to fight. His heart is aching, desperate for his love."

Inuyasha and Koga shared a grim look before the hanyou walked over to kneel next to his friend. His gold eyes studied the monks face. It was twisted in a painful expression. So Miroku was heartbroken about Sango. Leaning in close to Miroku's ear he whispered, "That desert rose of yours will never forgive you if you give up. Sango is sitting in that hot ass bar waiting for you to return so she can bitch you out for leaving in the first place. Don't disappoint her by dying from a little blow from those punk ass band of seven."

Marlena looked thoughtfully at Inuyasha and then smiled gently at Kagome. "That'll do. His spirit is changing. I believe he will fight to see this woman again."

Inuyasha looked up and the healer and nodded. "Then please save him."

Marlena nodded back before she set to work removing the bandages so she could see the damage.

In the Eastern Forest Kingdom...

Daphne stood on the hill in the now over grown garden as she watched the sun work it's way towards sunset. Her heart was heavy in her chest. She didn't understand how this had all happened. It had been such a normal week. Kikyo had been ill and not allowed to leave the Eastern Sea palace, so she would be well for the equinox. Kagome had gone to comfort her and make their personal preparations. Then Kagome was set to come home and spend her days in the forest, enjoying the celebrations, and listening to the music. It was Daphne's dearest wish that the song of one of the young saytrs would call to her daughter. But with Kagome and all those born at the same time as her nearing their nineteenth year, her hope was dwindling.

Daphne wasn't blind though, she had seen that Kagome had taken an interest in the young lord Hojo. She had caught her daughter a few times, over the last couple of years, lingering outside of the king's sitting room when the men gathered after dinner. Still, he wasn't Daphne's first choice for her daughter. Yes, Hojo was well liked and came from a wonderfully loyal human family. He was intelligent and spoke kindly with great respect to everyone. It was also clear that he had a fondness for Kagome that went beyond that of a loyal subject.

Never the less, Daphne didn't feel that Kagome would be truly happy with someone who was so...safe. Someone who would rather keep her with-in the walls of the capital rather than risk her injury on an adventure of the realm. Not that the queen wanted her daughter far from the forest but as long as Daphne and Haro lived Kagome had the freedom to explore. She wanted Kagome to explore before she was give rule over the land and forest.

"What are you thinking about so desperately?" Haro asked as he leaned against the castle wall watching his queen. The light bugs had slowly begun to wake up as he had been watching her in the lower light of the day and they flowed around her reminding him of her true self. They had one day to find their daughter and there was no promise that whatever Kagome planned would happen at night. They could have even less time than he thought.

Daphne laughed briefly. "I was actually thinking about Kagome's future husband. There are less saytrs this year for her to hear and while lord Hojo is nice...", tears escaped Daphne's eyes, "I want Kagome to have adventures before she has to take over the throne. I want her to live wildly and love someone who will live wildly with her." Daphne dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.

Haro walked over to his heartbroken wife. Gently he turned her into his embrace and pulled her tightly to his chest. "I know, my Dear. I want the same for her."

The two stood there in the over-grown garden as the sun touched the tops of the tree that surrounded the castle. The amber light stretched their shadows across the grass, insects began their soft night serenade as the breeze pressed against them like a careful caress. On the breeze came the sound of music. The pair held their breath as they listened to be sure they were hearing what they thought they were.

"The festival is starting." Haro said as he turn his head towards the forest to the North of the palace.

In the Eastern Forest...

The sun was sinking by the time Marlena had finished with Miroku. The princes were impressed at how she had been able to increase the speed of his healing. Since he was a human it should have taken weeks to heal from the wounds he had suffered, instead the wounds looked like aging, pink scars and Marlena told them that he would be waking up and ready to move by sunrise. She did caution about stress applied to his body, even though he had spiritual powers, he was human.

Kagome walked Marlena and Shippo to the edge of the camp. "Thank you." The princess said gratefully.

Marlena smiled softly as she embraced her princess. "Anything for you, Majesty. But...". The healer paused as she looked back at the three males on the other side of the fire. "Are you sure saving him was for the best? There is blood on his hands, more than I've ever felt in the forest."

Kagome couldn't force a smile, there wasn't even fake happiness to be shown in the moment. She knew that they were killers and she had killed for them. "I have faith that he will use this as a second chance at life."

"Please let me stay." Shippo wailed as he jumped up on Kagome's shoulder.

Kagome patted his head gently before lifting him and handing him to Marlena. "You can not stay young one. I need you to go and tell my parents of my safety. Tell them that I was saved by two princes and a monk. Let them know that celebrations need to happen." Kagome looked at Marlena. "Celebrate for me this night. Fill the air with music."

The older female nodded sadly in understanding before she turned with the young kit and disappeared into the green around her.

"I'll never fucking get used to that!" Koga called across the fire.

At the Eastern Sea...

The sun had begun it's decent into the forest but the Queen and Princess had yet to return. The guards greatest fear was that something would happen to the Queen or Princess while under the waves where they couldn't help. No one wanted to have to tell the King news like that.

They didn't have to wait much longer though as the image of a woman emerged from the sea. As the figure came closer the guards could see it was the Queen. The lead guard stepped forward to meet her at the gate.

Taking a knee before her, he greeted her and asked, "Majesty, is all well with the Princess? We were anticipating both of you to return."

Lileae smiled at the young guard as she gently laid a hand on his shoulder encouraging him to stand. "The Princess will be staying under the sea until this matter is resolved." The Queen then turned to speak to the rest of the guards. "We will be leaving to return to the Eastern Sea Palace now. No one is to remain for the Princess will not be returning this day."

All of the men stated their agreement and the formation formed to move the Queen to her vehicle. After she was loaded in the SUV, Lileae looked out of the darkened window over to the sea as her mind replayed the events of the day.

Under the waves, ten miles from the shore, the glittering sea palace had been filled with life. Similar to the festivals in the forest, the sea celebrated the upcoming equinox with large banquets at the palace. Illuminated by magical crystals, the palace shone like a beacon of light trapped under the sea.

Lileae and Kikyo sat at a small circular table with the Sea Queen in her private dining hall. Maeve had been so delighted to see her daughter and granddaughter but once she learned the true reason for their visit joy clearly became the farthest thing from her.

"The demon you are up against was once called Hitomi Kagewaki. After everything had passed the other kingdoms were questioned about him but none had heard the name. Even now in the current years there is no mention of the name. In the South there had been a human family of great wealth, who had moved there during a time of war. But the family was quickly wiped out by the demons in the area, none survived. It became clear that the one who had been so sly and devious was familiar with this and used it to his advantage, stealing an empty name." Maeve stated sternly.

"How can you be sure it is the same demon and not someone new?" Kikyo asked as she fidgeted in her seat. As much as she loved being in the sea, the transformation her body took to be under the water was not something she ever got use to. Her clothing from the land dissolved into the sea, scales covered her body from her neck to her toes, gills formed on the sides of her neck and low on the sides of her ribs, also webbing formed between her fingers and toes. Even though she was completely cover because her body was no longer human, her human modesty simply couldn't adjust.

Maeve smiled softly at her granddaughter's squirming. She knew Kikyo was never full at ease the first day in the ocean because of her body and it made the Sea Queen sad to know that Kikyo's mind was so bound to the land. "There are not tales of the pact circulating in any of the kingdoms. This demon had Kagome taken on the road to her home, traveling from the sea. She was on the road that you should have been on." Maeve looked directly at Lileae. "Kikyo is the elder cousin and heir of the land. She was the intended target. I have always believed that whoever that demon was, that he did not given up. The longevity we have demons share. Time would not have been a factor."

Lileae looked at her daughter and then her mother worry clear in her crystal blue eyes. "So you believe that he has a spy in the two kingdoms? How else would he know about the girls?"

"What does he want with us? Just one of us alone can't do anything." Then Kikyo looked from one woman to the other. "Can we?"

Maeve sighed, "Because you each enter the sacred ground one your own he only needs one of you on the night on the equinox. Having Kagome or having you is enough to get him to where the pact has been hidden." Looking directly into Kikyo's eyes the elder Queen made sure the princess was listening. "Your blood, Kagome's blood, those are the keys and by taking one of you he has the sacrifice he needs to take the power. Power over the land, the forest, and the sea."

Kikyo's eyes had been so wide Lileae had thought they might fall out. It was hard, as a mother, for her to see the realization dawn on her daughter. This demon, whoever he was, he was going to kill Kagome for power over their kingdoms. The blood of two kingdoms for the power over the three. Then there was the look of questioning. How were they going to stop him? Did Kagome know what was happening?

Lileae patted her daughter's hand gently and said, "We won't let that happen." As she looked to her mother she decided to make a request. "I'd like to have Kikyo remain here."

"Mother! I'm not going to hide while-"

Lileae raised her hand silencing her daughter so she could explain. "If anything does happen to Kagome before the equinox he will have no choice but to seek you out. And if he finds you, what then? No, you will help the entire realm if you are in the safety of the sea."

"Your mother is right. Here is where you can do the most good." Maeve agreed.

"And what if he kills Kagome and takes the pact? What if being there and being ready, me and Kagome could use the pact to defeat him?" Neither woman looked convince so Kikyo tried another route. "If father and uncle defeat this demon before the equinox and I am not there with Kagome to pledge our protection to the power in the pact, what will happen then?"

Both queens sat quiet. Lileae had been proud of the fight her daughter had in her about wanting to be there to help. They knew it could be devastating for the East, that was the curse their blunder had cost them. Still they had faith that keeping Kikyo from danger would be upholding her pledge to protect it and that would be satisfying enough to buy them a couple of days.

"The decision is made, you will remain in the sea. Atlantis will be your guard. Where you go he will go. Am I understood?" Maeve stated with a voice of authority that Kikyo knew she should not question.

"You are out of this fight, my dear. Not everyone fights a battle on the front line, some have other duties. As the heir to the Eastern Sea Kingdom and the princess of the Sea itself your duty is to remain in safety for the safety of your kingdoms." Lileae rose, kissing her daughter's forehead she smiled softy, "Your vision will not come to pass. He has to enter the forest with Kagome to get to the shrine. She will be found in time and this will be over before you know it.".

Maeve stood and hugged Lileae whispering in her ear, "She will be fine, Atlantis is a good match for her."

Lileae smiled as she released her mother. "Easy, mother, she is not easily won over. I hope he is up for a challenge because she is very angry." The Queen of the land giggle as her daughter glared to the left of the room.

Kikyo was furious it was easy to see but the Queen of the land knew her daughter would see that this was the right choice. As Lileae spoke quietly with her mother she saw Kikyo glaring at the door until Atlantis walked in. He had been Kikyo's personal guard of sorts since they were children, but now he was a fully matured male. He had grown a great deal in the last year. Kikyo turned from him quickly as Maeve called him across the room and Lileae smiled seeing her daughter's blush.

He was taller, visibly stronger, his hair was longer, he had lost the youthful weight from his face. Last year his hair had been shorter, only able to be pulled at the nape of his neck, now he had two long forelocks that flowed over his shoulders and a braid that hung down to the middle of his back. His face was now more that of a man than a young boy. Lileae also saw the mischief in his eyes when he looked Kikyo's way as the queens spoke to him. She had hope that he would keep her daughter happy while she was isolated to the sea.

Lileae had left as Atlantis escorted Kikyo out of the dining hall to get ready for the party. A party would hopefully lift her spirits. As the SUV, she rode in, pulled into the underground garage her heart sank a small amount knowing that there would be no parties in their kingdom until this darkness was over.

Haro was waiting at the bottom of the stairs as his wife's vehicle stopped in front of him. Swiftly he went to her door to help her out. Taking her hand gently he lead her towards the stairs where he expected to wait for their daughter.

"Kikyo will be remaining in the sea until this is over." Lileae said knowing why they had stopped on the stairs.

Haro nodded his head understanding his wife's logic behind the decision. "My brother called while you were away." He stated as he lead his wife into the castle. "Kagome's power was felt in great magnitude near the desert boarder of the forest."

 **A/N: OK so this is officially taking super long and I am very very very sorry about that. But since I already have one story hanging at a dead stop on my record I don't want to have another. I promise I am working on this as the inspiration comes to me. Problem is it's just not coming as often as I thought it would. Anyways, Thank you for everyone who has taken time to read and please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello! So if you have noticed I had been trying to make each chapter a full day but the last chapter would have been just WAY to long if I had done that. This chapter will have the night before, the new day, and hopefully the night for that day. Fingers crossed that I can get it all in and keep the length around where I'd like it. As Always THANK YOU to every single one of you who stops in and reads!**

 **IF YOU HAVE BEEN READING THIS FIC PLEASE GO BACK TO CHAPTER 5. I ADDED ONE MORE LOCATION SCENE AT THE END!**

 **Sorry but I really wanted to keep the information and having it in this chapter made it longer than I like. It fits well where it is now so I hope you will find it in your hearts to go and read it!**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter 6**

In the Eastern Forest...

Kagome hid a smile at the foul words as she kept her back turned to the others. So much had happened in such a short number of days and there was still more to come before this would be over. But how was she going to end whatever this was? There really wasn't anyone she could speak to about it, all she had was her mother's stories and a hunch. Looking down at her hands Kagome wondered if she would be strong enough, would she be powerful enough to protect her kingdom and possibly the realm?

"Princess?" Inuyasha called as he carefully placed his hand on her shoulder.

Kagome jumped a bit but it couldn't be helped, she had been so distracted that she hadn't heard him coming. Dropping her hands to her sides she blinked slowly to try to clear her mind.

"You alright? I called your name a few times." Inuyasha said as he moved around to look the young princess in the eye.

His eyes burned like molten gold as the fire reflected brightly in them. His silver hair also held a golden glow but much of his face was cast in curious shadows as the sun light faded behind him. Kagome was lost for words as his eyes looked at her with concern. She turned away hoping to hid the blush crawling up her cheeks. Why did he have to be everything she didn't realize she had been missing? There were so many kind, handsome princes and lords in the realm. Men who lived upstanding lives and were pillars of the court. So why was she having this attraction to one of the princes who had thrown all of that away to live a tabboo lifestyle. What was wrong with her?

"Ka-go-me?" Inuyasha asked as he peeked around to try and see her face. "What's wrong with you?" He asked poking her gently in the center of her forehead with the pad of his finger.

Hadn't she just asked herself that? Turning in a huff to face him fully she narrowed her eyes at the demon in front of her. "Why does there have to be something wrong? Can't I just be lost in my own thoughts?" She asked crossing her arms in front of her.

"HAHAHAHA!" Inuyasha laughed outright shaking his head at the ground before he looked up and said, "I figured you'd be the type that was spacey enough to get lost but how spacey do you have to be to get lost in your own head?". Koga snorted from the other side of the camp as he tried to hold back a laugh.

Kagome turned to glare at him but that just seemed to set his laughter free. He and Inuyasha were enjoying a good laugh at her expense and if she hadn't already been irritated with herself she probably would have been able to let it go...but that wasn't happening right at that moment. She wasn't in the mood to defend herself or too fight. Instead she twisted her pointer fingers at them quietly causing thick forest vines from the ground to wrap around their ankles. Then she walked away.

Both males tried to calm their laughter as they watched Kagome wiggled her fingers at them and then walked off into the wood.

"What was that about?" Koga asked through his dying laughter as he looked to where Kagome was walking through the trees.

"Feh, I don't fucking know." Inuyasha said as he calmed down. His worried eyes stayed on the direction Kagome was walking in.

Softly the sound of music crawled through the trees reaching their ears. The forest trees grew far enough apart that Kagome could still be seen, but it seemed that she was moving through the underbrush towards the sound. A chill, Inuyasha didn't understand, crept up his spine. Was she being called by a satyr? Was she wrong about not being able to hear the call of someone's music in her soul?

The sound pulled at him to move forward, "Umph!", and suddenly he found himself face down on the ground. He hadn't even noticed she had wrapped the vines around his ankles. Of course the small plant wasn't exactly something that would hold any demon that wanted to break free. Koga, who had stood up to see what had happened to Inuyasha, had fallen over as well causing him to notice his own vines.

Inuyasha turned back to where he had seen Kagome. Furrowing his brow he didn't want to say that he was worried that he couldn't see her anymore, but he knew he didn't like it. Reaching down with his claws Inuyasha made quick work of the plant and righted himself.

Inuyasha looked again to where the princess disappeared too. "I'm going to go find her." He said as he grabbed up his sword cloth and threw it across his back.

"What are you going to do if she is meeting a satyr?" Koga asked as he sat back down on the log near the fire. Leaning his elbows on his bent knees he kept his eyes on Inuyasha.

Inuyasha froze. He didn't know how to answer that. He didn't even really understand why the thought of that bothered him so much. "Keh.", was the only thing he could reply.

Koga shook his head as he watched the other prince stalk off into the forest. He could tell that Inuyasha was developing feeling for Kagome. Looking over at Miroku, Koga just couldn't see an out come for this whole thing that was good for any of them. He knew that Inuyasha was going to see this through for the girl, that much was crystal clear at the moment. Hell they all felt kind of in debt to her. But part of him wanted to tell Miroku, as soon as he woke up, to go back to Sango and stay there.

Slipping down onto the ground Koga leaned his back against the log and stretched his legs out in front of him crossing his ankles near the fire. The falling night was swallowing the light in the forest. It was a strange effect to sit and watch. He wasn't sure that he had sat and watched the night fall since he had left home. No, he was positive he hadn't. He was always in a city, on a job, or in a bar as night fell. The last time he had sat out and watched the darkness creep in was the night he told Ayame he was leaving and she needed to forget about him. Maybe it was guilt that kept him from wanting to be out as night was falling. Guilt that he had abandoned his future mate and his kingdom all for selfish reasons.

Koga leaned his head back to look up at towards the sky, but the canopy of the trees was so thick there were no stars. Sleep seemed like a good idea. Inuyasha's spell had been proven that it was active against the beings that lived in the forest. A short sleep wouldn't hurt and frankly they could all use it.

Inuyasha grumbled to himself as he tracked Kagome's scent through the forest. The biggest problem was she had the scent of an evening flower and there were evening flowers blooming in the forest at that moment as night grew heavier. Still Kagome's specific scent was one that was ingrained in his mind, even though he had only known her a few days he knew he'd never forget how she smelled.

Looking up from the forest floor there was a bright glow coming from ahead that caught his attention, he could hear a chorus of voices and music coming from the area. As he neared the small clearing he saw Kagome's figure leaning against a tree. She was probably four or five trees back away from the open space. It was safe to say no one would see her unless they were really looking.

"Can you see how happy they are?" Kagome whispered as Inuyasha drew near to her.

He was a bit surprised she had known he was there. He hadn't made a sound and she hadn't looked back to see him coming. Instead of picking at it he looked out at the crowd of creatures before them. Some had very human features while others were like many demons, looking more blended with nature. Still they all looked happy as they feasted and danced in the bonfire light. "Yea, they look happy. But it's a party right?"

Kagome smiled softly as she looked at the ground being sure her hair hid her face from Inuyasha's possibly prying eyes. It was a party, a celebration of life, and hope. "Yes, it's a party." Kagome looked out again at the beings gather as she drew in a shaky breath. Several fairies and sprites were frolicking about in the fire light as a few of the older satyrs played their flutes and lyres. Slowly more nymphs and satyrs entered the area followed by other forest spirits and creatures. Some of the younger satyrs began to play. They had a different sound to them than the older ones had, it was more yearning than satisfied.

"Do you know the males that are playing?" Inuyasha asked as he stood next to Kagome watching her face. There was something strange in her expression, something that had been taking over her expressions since she had sent the healer away. A kind of finality, like she had made a decision and was going to stick with it.

Although she didn't know he had seen it in her, he wasn't too far off from how she was really feeling. These were her people, she had met every one of them. It was her privilege to gather at the different festivals every year and spend time among all her people. Now it was her duty to protect them so they could remain happily at peace. "Let's go."

Inuyasha scowled as Kagome turned to walk away. She hadn't fucking answered him again! Man, that shit was old. Did she have something against answering him? Rushing her before she knew what was happening he pinned her between himself and the trunk of a large tree. Holding his arms against the tree on either side of her shoulders he leveled her with his gaze, but left a small space between their bodies. "What is your problem with answering my fucking questions?"

Kagome blinked slowly as she looked at the agitated demon holding her to the tree. He was so close and still keeping himself from actually touching her. Even in the darkness his eyes glowed with some kind of predatory gleam that trapped her gaze and wouldn't release her.

Being in the forest she could have easily used her power to escape him but being that close to the festival she was hesitant and he knew she would be. Inuyasha smirked at Kagome's silence, "What, Princess, are you struck speechless being this close to me again?".

Kagome couldn't help her smile, oh he wanted to play that game did he? "No, Fang. I was just avoiding your question while I thinking about how nice it would be if one of the satyrs from over there was here in your place."

The sickly sweet smile she had as she told him that caused him to snarl louder than he should have. Loud enough the music paused for a moment before continuing. "Which one did you want, Princess?" Inuyasha asked before leaning closer to her face and whispering darkly, "I can drag him out here for you.".

Inuyasha pushed away from Kagome and she realized he was seriously about to march out there and drag one of those poor males into the forest. As much as she wanted to giggle as she pictured the horrified face of a satyr being dragged behind the very angry prince, this was no time for laughter. Grabbing his arm she tried to stop him but he easily shook her off. Hiking her skirt up to her knees she jumped on his back and did the only thing she could think to get his attention...she grabbed his ears. Not too hard, of course, but enough that he stopped.

Swinging his body sideways he tried to shake off Kagome, who had now locked her ankles around his waist and her arms around his neck. "What's your problem? I'm just doing what you want, stupid girl!" He growled at her.

"That's not what I really want, dummy!" Kagome answered back as she held on, her eyes were squeezed shut so she didn't get dizzy from his quick movements.

"What the hell do you want then?" Inuyasha asked as he stopped trying to dislodge her. But once again he was only met with silence. Damn she was infuriating! Why was he attracted to her stubborn ass again?

Kagome was silent because she didn't know how to answer him. She didn't know what she wanted really. Loosening her legs she shifted her weight to drop back to the ground but her movement was stopped by two strong hands gripping the underside of her thighs. "What are you doing?!" She squealed in surprise. This time she was met with silence and what felt like possibly whiplash as Inuyasha took off underneath her sprinting through the forest. Kagome did the only thing she could think of and that was tuck her head behind his and hold on tight.

Inuyasha was laughing as the wind whipped passed them. He had felt her shock as he shot off through the trees. She was making herself as small as she could against his back but he was thankful she didn't scream. Using his speed and muscle strength he propelled them up into the trees. Carefully he worked his way up higher and higher until he was able to run over the tree tops.

"Why don't you stopped hiding and fucking look?" He called over his shoulder.

Kagome hesitated before deciding she would brave it and take a peek. She felt her breath get stolen away. Whether it was from the speed he was running or the view she didn't know, she didn't care at that moment. They were running on the top of the forest! The night sky glittered above them. It reminded her of how the night sky looked as it danced on the ocean near the Sea palace. The moon hadn't risen yet and the stars looked so bright and close, she felt like if she reached out she would touch them. Carefully she laid her chin on Inuyasha's shoulder as she relaxed against him. She had never felt the kind of amazing freedom she was feeling at that moment. It was hard to explain but if she had to put a word to the feeling, timeless is what she would say.

It didn't feel as if they were moving forward as the sky stretched out unchanging around them. She didn't feel the weight of the past or the worry of the future. All she felt was the warmth of the male carrying her, the strength of his hands holding her, and the power of his body to run both of them across the top of the forest.

Kagome knew realistically she should have been scared out of her mind, but for some reason she felt perfectly safe.

"Going down." Inuyasha said knowing she would hear with her face on his shoulder. He waited a moment for her to tuck her head back behind him before carefully dropping down through the trees. They were a short ways from their camp. He had circled it twice keeping his senses open for danger below.

It had been two birds really. One of his favorite things to do in the Eastern Forest was run over the tree tops. Even though most of the Kingdoms had forest areas there were none as vast and uninterrupted as in the Eastern Forest. Hell, the places Kagome called clearings were really just a small break in the tree maybe three or four tree tops wide, easily jumped over by someone with his skills.

The ground was coming towards them quickly and the princess' grip had increased slightly but on the whole she was still very relaxed. Inuyasha smirked as he thought about how she had seemed to forget herself once she started to look around. He had never run like that with anyone else. If she asked he'd take her again in a heart beat, however she'd have to ask 'cause he wasn't fucking admitting that.

In the Western Kingdom...

Lord Sesshomaru paced back and forth on the large balcony outside of his bed chamber. He was unsettled by the turn of events. The danger that was posed to his family and to his kingdom was not something he could sit back and ignore, but seeking open war was not a danger he wanted to burden his kingdom with.

"Will you not come to bed, my lord?" A soft voice called as the figure of a petite female approached the tall demon.

"There is much for this Sesshomaru to think over." He answered as he looked out over the sleeping village that rested at the gate of his castle.

"Rin thinks you are worrying too much when the answer is simple." Walking around to stand in front of her mate Rin looked up as his gaze remained unflinchingly fixed on the village. "Go to the East."

Sesshomaru shifted his eyes down to his small, very human mate. Why would she suggest he be away from her and their young when she knew what was at stake? "What could the East hold for me that is not provided here?"

"Bloodshed." With that simple phrase Rin lifted one of his clawed hands and gently kissed the palm before heading back to bed.

The Lord of the West watched as his mate drifted back across the balcony to their bedroom. Her long, dark hair tossed about freely in the gently breeze. Her white sleeping gown floated gently behind her as her small form disappeared through the doorway. Once she was gone from his sight Sesshomaru let a smile vicious smile creep across his lips. That was the reason he had mated that seemingly fragile human woman. She was honest and honestly saw him for who he was but wasn't afraid.

She was correct, and he knew she knew it. He would go to the East and make sure this matter was settled at its heart so that there would be no threat to his family in the West. Decision made the Lord headed to bed to be with his mate.

In the forest...

After some bantering between Koga and Inuyasha about one taking a nap and one taking a run, the three settled down to finish the food Sango had sent. Kagome hadn't realized how hungry she was until she had smelled the food, then her stomach wouldn't shut up.

"So what's the plan tomorrow, Inuyasha?" Koga asked as he set his bowl aside.

"I think the best would be for us to move towards the Eastern Castle." Inuyasha glanced sideways at Kagome. He was hoping she wasn't going to argue with him. "Once Kagome is safe inside the palace we will call the guy who hired us and see what we can get out of him."

Koga thought over what Inuyasha was saying, but honestly he didn't understand why they didn't just move on after Kagome was safe. Dealing with this person, poking at this, didn't seem like the best plan. "I don't agree about calling this guy and dealing with this any further. No offense." He said looking at Kagome. "But I think once she is safe then we should disappear. The King and Queen are going to be suspicious of us enough as it is and I really believe that it'd be best for us to head back to the desert before our families get wind of us being in one of the Eastern Kingdoms."

Kagome looked at the two princes as they talked calmly. It may have been the calmest she had really seen them with each other since she had found out who they really were. Still she decided not to say anything one way or the other because she knew no matter what they settled on it wouldn't be what she was going to do.

"We'll wait until the morning. When Miroku's awake then we will see what he thinks and we'll go from there. We can't really make a decision without him." Inuyasha said as jumped on to a low branch of the nearest tree. "You get first watch, nap-boy." He called down as he stretched out.

Kagome giggled as Koga rolled his eyes. Moving a small ways from the fire she settled down as well. She had no doubts that sleep would come quickly after the long day. She closed her eyes and pictured the night sky Inuyasha had shown her, so clear and bright, and before long she was asleep.

The night fell with music consistently on the breeze. Inuyasha listened to the soft sounds as he allowed sleep to claim him. The music reminded him of a dream from a time when he was young and his mind followed the music back.

His mother and father had brought him to the Middle Kingdom. He was just a pup and hadn't cared about the politics that brought them to the Middle Kingdom, he was only excited to run. For whatever reason his family had been staying in a small village near the Eastern Forest boarder. Inuyasha's mother had told him not to sneak into the Eastern Forest at night but that only made the young hanyou want to do it.

The music was playing that night, it came on the breeze through the open window in the room he was using. While his parents and brother were at a dinner he had been sent to bed in the upper room of the house they were staying. He dreamed that night that he had slipped out unseen by the adults so he could do the thing he loved most, run.

Inuyasha ran towards the music. He was excited to be breaking the rules, excited to be in the woods, excited to find out where the strange music was coming from.

Even as a pup, he felt when he had crossed the boundary between the kingdoms. The world felt different in his mind when he entered the Eastern Forest. The floor of the forest was dotted with glowing blue flowers. They smelled soft and didn't bother his nose like other night flowers did, so he followed them.

He ran deeper into the forest not really paying attention to where he was running. The flowers just kept on going, soon the forest floor was covered in them, lighting the night with a soft blue glow that reflected of the trees around him. Suddenly there was an open area, a circle in the midst of thousands of flowers. He stopped when he had found himself in the middle of it.

Looking around wide eyed, the young hanyou jumped when a beautiful, young woman appeared next to him. Her pale skin and white gown glowed in the light of the blue flowers and the moon, her dark hair flowed on the breeze around her as if her shadow was rising out of her. Inuyasha was mesmerized as her pale hands reached out towards him to cup his face.

"Protect her."

Inuyasha sat up quickly as if he had been shoved out of his dream. He looked around disoriented. Who the hell was that? He had never remembered seeing anyone in that dream before. So why was there a woman's voice echoing in his head and a face lingering in his thoughts now?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Koga asked from across the fire to the hanyou in the branches.

Inuyasha stared at the wolf before his gaze shifted to the sleeping princess, the woman had looked a lot like Kagome. "I'm not sure."

Koga shifted his gaze to Kagome, narrowing his blue eyes for a moment he studied her. "Is there something about her you need to tell us?"

Inuyasha didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer. Something else about her? Sure. He had almost lost control with her at Sango's even though he shouldn't have been anywhere close to losing control. Her scent reminded him of flowers from a memory of a dream almost two decades old. Something else about her? There was too much about her and it was starting to play on his better judgement.

Instead of saying anything Koga watched him simply grunt and lay back down. The wolf decided that he would let it go for the night but if he thought Kagome was messing with Inuyasha's decisions then he would step in and take over.

In the Eastern Kingdom...

The music of the festivals filled the air and many of the human citizens came to the palace to pay tribute to the King and Queen. It was such a wonderful and unexpected surprise for the King and his Queen to see their citizens in such cheerful spirits. Soon Aoi entered the grand hall and asked for a private word with the royal couple.

They willingly obliged and retired for the moment to a private sitting room. Aoi entered the sitting room with his wife, who was carrying a small fox pup. The kit looked around wide eyed at everything around them.

"Queen Daphne of the Great Forest and King Haru of the Vast Land, may I introduce my match, Marlena." Aoi stated proudly as he gestured Marlena forward.

"Greetings, Healer." Daphne said as the younger nymph bowed before her King and Queen. "And who is this with you?" She asked with a smile.

The young kit jumped to the ground and scampered closer to the royal pair. "I'm Shippou, your Majesties and I have a message from the princess!"

Daphne gasped as her husband scooted forward to the edge of his seat. "Speak young one." He encouraged softly.

Shippou was worried about the Queen's reaction, she didn't look as happy as he thought she would but at the King's words he pushed on. "She wants you both to know she is safe and that the celebrations need to happen. Umm...oh yea! And that she was saved by two princes and a monk."

Shippou was glad he had remembered the entire message but his eyes kept drifting to the sweet cart that was off to the side of the room.

The King noticed the kit's distraction and motioned the boy to go, telling him to help himself. Once the youth was off to the side and distracted Haru turned to Aoi and Marlena. "Do you know where Kagome is or of these men she claims have saved her?"

Aoi looked to Marlena who nodded sadly before leveling the Queen with her eyes. "They have magic to hide from us, your majesty." She reported solemnly. "The kit was lured to them by the princess and then sent to find me. He led me close to the Whispering Stream. But I could not see or feel anyone near by. It was not until the princess touched my hand that I saw her. She led me and Shippou into their camp where one of them was gravely injured."

Daphne's eyes were calm but inside she was an earthquake of emotions. They had magic to hid from her people? Her people were of the invisible so nothing should be hidden from them! Why was one of them injured? Had Kagome been in a battle for her freedom and why were they still hiding? Surely Kagome knew that her father's men were in the forest looking for her. "Did Kagome explain the injuries that man had?"

Marlena looked down sadly shaking her head 'no'. Slowly she lifted her gaze to her husband.

"What is it, Marlena?" Haru asked. "Please, speak."

"The blood stains on his hands were more than can ever be washed clean. I told the princess but she seemed to already know. What I didn't tell her was that I knew the other two had just as much blood on their's." Marlena looked at both her Queen and her King before going on. "There is more. The man I saved, he had in his hand a void of darkness. A curse that would swallow everything in its path it not for the seal he wears upon it in the form of a glove."

So the rumors from the desert were true. "Mercenaries!" The Queen whispered in fear drawing her hand to her mouth. That explained how Kagome had been stolen from their forest. They had stolen magic that hid them and her.

"But Princess Kagome said she was safe and that they were princes and a monk?" Shippou questioned from his seat on the floor next to the treat cart.

Haru thought about the boys words. He was correct. If Kagome felt she was in danger surely she could call more to her than a small kit. With the flair of power she sent up before she could call the entire army to her, so why not do so.

"I believe she has them on her side, no matter the prior circumstances." Marlena said carefully, hoping to not worry the kit any further.

Daphne looked at the healer in shock but Haru spoke before his wife could. "What makes you think that?"

"Well," the healer started watching her Queen closely, "the Princess had done her best to heal the man before I arrived. It is hard to think that the men would have thought a princess would have had healing knowledge, it is not a common thing for princesses."

"Kagome is too kind to allow anyone to die, that proves nothing." Daphne said as if that was something that should have also been known to one of Kagome's subjects.

"That is true, my Queen, but something happened in the forest the day Kagome's power was felt so strongly. Lives were taken by the forest. Added together with the wounds that man had and I don't think it's a leap to say the Princess used her powers to save these men." Marlena looked to her husband for support. She knew it was dangerous to suggest such things but she couldn't deny what she had seen with her eyes and what the forest had told them all that day.

Daphne sat perfectly still. It couldn't be. There couldn't be war and bloodshed here in their Kingdom. Had the pact abandoned them?

Haru saw that his wife was having a hard time with all the information being given to them so he looked to Aoi prepared to dismiss them. "Before you go, can you describe the men with Kagome."

"One was a mean half dog demon!" Shippou piped up as he bound back over to Marlena.

"A half dog demon?" Daphne questioned. "Are you positive?" She asked facing Marlena for adult confirmation.

"Yes, the one who seemed to be the leader was a half dog demon." Marlena answered.

"Yea! And the wolf demon wasn't all that nice either." Shippou chimed in again.

Marlena raised her eyebrows as she looked down at the young kit. Shippou looked sheepishly at the healer before looking back to the King and Queen. "Well, they weren't very nice to me. They were pretty polite to Marlena though."

The adults shared in a small laugh before the King rose. "Thank you for all of your valuable help. Please celebrate as Kagome has asked."

Aoi stood followed by his wife. She scooped up Shippou again and all three bowed before leaving the company of their King and Queen.

Daphne walked over to the window on the western wall of the sitting room. "Two princes, A wolf and a half inu. Would you believe that Koga and Inuyasha had become the Wolf's Howl and the Steel Fang if we hadn't had a witness of the highest quality?" It was a dangerous thing to suggest, both of the youth's families would be devastated. Yet there were only two princes matching those descriptions in the entire realm.

Haru walked over to his wife and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder. "What makes Marlena a witness of the highest quality? I've only just met her this night."

Daphne chuckled softly. "Is Aoi not one of our most trusted satyrs?"

"Well, yes he is. If he was not he would not have been sent to the desert." Haru answered back.

"It is not coincidence that one was given a message and one saw her face to face. Healing powers only go to the most trustworthy of nymphs because it is the power to help one live or to help one die." Daphne twisted in her husband's arms so she was facing him, winding her own arms over his shoulder and around his neck. "And as you know a nymph and her mate are a reflection of each other. One can not be trustworthy if the other is not also trustworthy."

"Mhmm." The King said as he looked down at the nymph in his arms. "So why is it that the Queen was not blessed with healing powers?"

Daphne smiled up at her mate. "I guess it is because, like my husband, I was destined to brake the biggest rule of the kingdom."

Haru leaned down and kissed his wife deeply. After breaking the kiss he leaned his forehead against hers, "Totally worth it.".

They both shared in a small laugh before deciding to head back to the grand hall and finish greeting the human guests that were visiting for the celebrations. If Kagome was not home the next day they would follow her wishes and celebrate by visiting the people of the unseen kingdom. Daphne didn't say anything at the moment but she decided the time had come to stop hiding. Once this was over her and her husband's people would meet each other and the truth would finally be told once again.

In the Eastern Forest...

Inuyasha hadn't been able to fall back to sleep after his dream and had ended up trading the wolf positions. He thought Koga looked like he could really use the rest anyways. The truth was neither of them had really slept the night before and they hadn't slept great in the desert on their way to the forest. He'd be grateful when all of this was over and they could all get a good nights sleep. Hell, he was even thinking about going home. He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss his family, Rin and the pups anyways. Alright somethings Sesshomaru too. Still they'd have to get through this alive before he'd actually have to decide one way or the other.

Watching Kagome sleep the woman from his dream kept flashing in his mind. Could she have been related to Kagome? It seemed like she would have had to of been a relative of some kind. The sound of a stick cracking in the distance reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing at the moment.

Quietly Inuyasha waited and watched the wood around them. He had figured out that if it was one of Kagome's unseen people there wouldn't be a noise so that left an animal. After a few moments of continued silence he relaxed again. In a few hours when the sun was up, they had to move, whether Miroku was ready or not. They had been in this one spot too long.

In the South...

"Find them! I don't care what you have to do, who you have to hire, or who you have to hurt. Find me one of those damn Princesses!" Naraku yelled into the phone before slamming it down into its cradle on his desk.

Rubbing his temples with his forefingers he looked to Kanna and her mirror. The young girl was showing him nothing but empty forest. There was a small creek and a few clearing that had smoldering bonfires but there was no sign of the Princess and her new pets. In the Eastern Sea Kingdom Kikyo had gone into the sea and had not come back out. Naraku was no fool. The Queen had left her daughter beneath the waves and there was no way he would be able to get her there. His only choice was Kagome but she had basically disappeared!

"Show me where the Band of Seven died!" Naraku growled out at the unaffected girl.

The edge of the forest had a small trail that lead to the desert and there was an abandoned jeep. The jeep had clearly seen some action, with all the bullet holes and scorch marks it was hard to think otherwise. As Kanna's mirror scanned the area, grass that had been flattened by great force caught Naraku's attention. It was a path that lead deeper into the forest.

"Show this to Kagura. I want her to follow this path and report what she finds at the end of it." Naraku said as he stood from his chair. He was headed to the East. The equinox was fast approaching and he was not going to miss this chance to get the power he so desperately craved.

In the Eastern Forest...

The first hint of sunlight was creeping its was into the camp as Inuyasha and Koga moved about silently erasing tracks that they had been there.

Kagome found herself being shaken awake by Koga as the sunrise worked its was through the trees. Looking around, trying to get her bearing she noticed Inuyasha staging the camp ground to look as if they hadn't been there.

"I can use my magic to cover up that we were here." She offered as if it was something they should have thought of.

They had.

"No, there's enough of your power lingering around here to get someone's attention but if you don't use any before we leave it'll be harder for anyone to figure out when we left." Koga answered as he helped her to her feet.

"You don't think that Marlena would have said that we can't leave until morning?" Kagome questioned as she looked to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha however was doing his best not to look at her. She was distracting him and he needed to distance himself from her. He wasn't a prince anymore than she was a merc, not now anyways, and he had to get some control over his-damn-self.

"It's still well over a day's walk to Dryades." Koga stated. Looking at the princess he saw something in her face that made him rethink his statement. "Isn't it?"

"It is." Kagome agreed. "For other people, but as the unseen travel, Marlena was most likely there before midnight."

Inuyasha stopped what he was doing and stared at the princess along with Koga. How was that possible? Her unseen people were seeming more and more like demons the more they found out about them. Could it be that they really were a lost race of demons who had taken refuge in the forest long before the wars?

"It doesn't matter." Koga decided, looking to Inuyasha who nodded in agreement. "I'll carry Miroku in the lead until he wakes."

Inuyasha moved the last log before he called out done and that they were ready to go. Kagome asked if she could have a moment before they left which earned her a suspicious look from both males.

"As long as we don't end up with a new friend." Inuyasha finally said as he shoulder the pack of supplies as well as his sword.

Kagome soured her face and stuck her tongue out at the half dog demon but still promised them both before walking farther from camp into the thicker brush.

"We have to get her to the fucking castle as soon as possible and get the hell out of here." Koga said when he believed Kagome was out of ear shot.

"You think I don't already know that shit?" Inuyasha said as he walked over to check Miroku. The monk was breathing normally and seemed to be resting comfortably.

"I don't know what the hell you're thinking right now." Koga said walking over to Miroku as well.

"Feh!" Inuyasha spat as he helped lift Miroku on to Koga's back in the most comfortable position possible. "Don't fucking worry about what I'm thinking, just don't drop the monk." Inuyasha growled out as Kagome stepped back into the camp.

Both males had scowls on their faces. She couldn't believe how mad two people could look first thing in the morning.

"Let's go." Koga called as he lead the way farther East.

Kagome fell into step behind him. She expected to have Inuyasha walk next to her or behind her. So when she didn't hear him she looked to see where he was but he was no where she could see. For a moment she though he had used his spell again but when she turned around and saw Koga and Miroku she realized that wasn't it.

Walking behind Koga was so boring in silence, so she started doing her best to step in his footsteps. It was kind of fun for her. His stride was longer than hers, though she could tell he was taking it easy, still she was keeping herself busy hopping from footstep to footstep. It felt like hop-scotch she had played as a child. If Inuyasha didn't want to talk to her this morning then that was fine, she guessed. Not like she wanted to talk about the amazing run he took her on the night before or why he had gotten so mad about her satyr joke or why he had followed her into the forest in the first place last night.

Kagome frowned as she balanced on one foot in Koga's footprint. What was she doing? It didn't matter why Inuyasha had done those things. He was The Steel Fang, feared murderer and thief, not the prince of the West that he once was. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she started hopping again to catch up.

Inuyasha watched Kagome curiously from the branches above. He stayed close enough that the spell worked like it was meant to be far enough that he could see and sense any possible danger. He was trying to stay on task but this damn human, no not human, nymph. Thinking of her in that way made everything she did fascinating to him. At the moment she was hopping in the tracks Koga was leaving, the dress she was wearing fluttered like a green wave with ever hop she made. It was fortunate that she had decided to do her jumping because she didn't weight nearly enough to change the wolf's tracks. So the ground had the appearance of one heavy, male walking alone. When Miroku woke up Koga's tracks wouldn't be so deep but that was in their favor as well.

The hanyou had to admit he was curious about why Kagome had stopped. She must have been thinking about something because she shook her head before she started jumping around again. Even though he didn't want to he found himself wondering if she had been thinking about him.

A large shadow passed over head drawing his attention upward. Looking carefully threw the thick foliage above, his eyes caught a glimpse of what he thought was a large feather. Jumping down he whistled lowly at Koga as he grabbed Kagome. Inuyahsa threw his hand over her mouth before she could question what was going on. The group tucked themselves low into the thick under brush that was between the trees.

"Is there anything in this forest that has large white feathers?" Inuyasha whispered in Kagome's ear as he loosened his grip on her mouth.

His breath made Kagome's skin tingle where it had ran along the back of her ear and down the side of her neck. "Um..." Her mind tried to think only about the questioned he had asked, not his arm still resting across her collar bone, his hand pressed gently on her shoulder as he kept her in the shadows pulled against his hard body, with his muscles all drawn tight as he sat tensed for whatever might have happen next. "No. No there is nothing like that anywhere in the East." She finally managed to get out. Desperate to focus on anything else, Kagome searched the sky with her own eyes. Well, as much of the sky as she could see from their hiding spot and through the trees. It wasn't much.

Inuyasha wrinkled his brow as a small change in Kagome's scent caught his attention. It was almost like fear but not quite that strong. Nervousness was the next thought he had. But why was she nervous? Did she know something about what he saw or maybe she was worried about it because they were hiding from it?

Instead of talking and drawing attention to themselves with human tongue he called out to Koga in a series of yips, barks, and growls. If the thing above them was looking for Kagome for their previous employer then the sounds of some canines on the forest floor wouldn't be anything worth paying attention to.

He felt Kagome take a breath like one does before they are going to speak, so he quickly slipped his hand back over her mouth. Inuyasha felt her humph against his hand and it was hard not to laugh. Tilting her head back gently he placed his finger to his lips signaling that she really needed to keep quiet this time. It was a bad move on his part. Holding her so submissively as she looked up at him with wide trusting grey eyes, the side of her neck stretched so open and willing to him with her body pressed so tightly to his.

Kagome couldn't stop the blush heating up her face as she stared into the dangerously serious face of the male holding her. In the shadow the features of his face were sharp and unforgiving. The dark played tricks on his eyes making the gold in them glow as the breeze in the forest fanned the shadows of the leaves over his hair changing it from silver to black and back again.

She nodded her head in agreement to his request and he allowed her to move her face so she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was thankful when a signal from Koga earned a sigh of relief from Inuyasha and they began moving out of hiding.

"We need to move faster to reach Dryades as soon as we can." Koga said as he readjusted Miroku on his back. "Is there a short cut you can show us?"

Kagome looked around to better get an idea of where they were. She could always just ask the forest but she didn't want to use her power if it could be avoided for the time. "Yes, but it won't seem like a short cut at first so bear with it ok."

The two males agreed and the princess took up the lead. Inuyasha soon jumped back into the branches above as Koga followed along behind the princess. The wolf carefully stepped into the footprints of the woman in front of him but for an entirely different reason than she had when she did it to his.

After a time, when there was no other sign of danger Koga decided to ask the woman in front of him a few questions in hopes of figuring out what it was about her was affecting Inuyasha in a way he had never seen the hanyou affected before.

"What makes this a short cut?"

Kagome carefully moved through the growth of the forest floor, trying her best to stay on the well worn animal paths to make it easier on Koga since he carried Miroku. She was surprised by his question because they had all been so quiet for so long.

"It will take us around the sacred hills. That is also why it will seem longer, because we are not going as the bird flies but as the ant walks."

"Hmm." Koga answered as he pondered what information he really wanted to get from the woman in front of him. "Do you have the entire forest memorized?" He questioned lightly.

"Do you not have the entire Northern Mountain committed to memory?" Kagome countered with a bit of harsh sarcasm in her voice.

Koga let out a low equally harsh laugh, "You got me there, Princess. I do know my kingdom like the back of my hand. But I am a demon, I have lifetimes compared to humans. Time to learn the patterns of the land, how it grows and fall, how it changes." Koga trained his ears briefly on Inuyasha's position as he prepared to continue. "You are half human, correct? How are you able to do the same in the short amount of time you have had?"

Kagome rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it. She faced the same judgments from her mother's people. True they were loyal and kind but those most loyal to her grandfather's old laws were the most critical of her worth as a nymph. "I thought we covered this already? I am a nymph simply because I am a female born to a nymph."

"Yea, I get that, sort of, but you believe you have a whole soul because you are human. So doesn't that mean the human in you changes the power you have as a nymph?" Koga was really just trying to understand but the low growl from above he caught made him wonder if he was crossing some kind of half-blood line he didn't know about.

Kagome stopped walking for a moment. How could she explain this to him? She wasn't even sure Inuyasha understood and he was half human himself. "My powers are not more or less because of my human half. In a thousand years I will have hardly aged from how I am now. When everything human I have ever known has changed over and over again, the forest will remain and it will know me. When the men and woman who have cared for me as their princess and eventually as their Queen have turned to dust, the males and females of the forest will still know me as they do this very day." Kagome turned in her place and faced the male behind her allowing all the pain she felt to show clearly in her eyes. "The only thing my whole soul promises me in this life is that I will watch my loved ones die and that I will forever carry the weight of loss and loneliness."

With that Kagome turned and walked on. Neither the male on the ground nor the male in the branches above moved. What she described was not anything that either of them would ever face. If they each found a demon mate her born longevity would insure she was able to walk with them in life. If either of them fell in love with a human then she would be able to share in their life span through a mating ceremony.

"Idiot." Miroku mumbled from Koga's back.

All attention was drawn to the monk as he moved to try and get off of Koga's back. Koga stooped down so that he could set Miroku on the ground. The Monk grunted as he was jarred a bit when he hit the ground. Inuyasha watched their surroundings from the tree as Koga helped their friend sit and lean against the nearest tree. After that Koga whistled up to Inuyasha who dropped the pack to the male waiting on the ground.

"Fuck, I feel like I got ran over by a truck." Miroku sat leaning his head against the tree behind him.

"You almost died, so close enough." Koga supplied as he dug out bottle of water from the pack Inuyasha dropped.

Kagome leaned around Koga to look at Miroku's face. "How are you feeling?"

Slowly Miroku drew his vision up to the young woman. The last thing he remembered clearly was the forest basically devouring the Band of Seven. As a monk it didn't take him leaps and bounds to piece together how that had happened. He had fuzzy memories of things he thought he had heard in dreams and after what he just heard between her and Koga he knew he was on the right path. "I'm not too bad."

"May I?" Kagome asked Koga as she signaled for him to let her closer. He stood up to help Inuyasha look out while Kagome checked Miroku's wounds. "If you don't mind I'd like to check the wounds on your back."

Miroku smirked as he twisted around slowly. "The chance to have a beautiful princess undress part of me? Why, I would ever pass up such an opportunity."

"He's fine." Inuyasha called down as Koga chuckled.

Kagome tried to fight a smile as she lifted the back of his shirt. His wounds were almost perfectly healed flesh. It was good. It was a sign that Marlena's magic was working the way that it was meant to. Still the outer body might have been healing properly but he had fought off a very large dose of lethal poison for a long time. His body was going to have a hard time regaining energy.

Lowering his shirt she debated on what she should do. Miroku needed rest. He could hardly travel, fighting was definitely out of the picture.

"His outer wounds are healing but he still needs rest."

"Can you walk, Miroku?" Koga asked looking out over the forest floor.

"I'm not really sure." Miroku answered trying to stand. He was upset by the effort it took for him to stand but he did it on his own. "Well, I'm up but I honestly think walking is going to be a problem for a while still."

Inuyasha looked down at the group. "We need to move. Koga can carry you and when he gets tired of your heavy ass I'll carry you."

Miroku flipped up his middle finger to his tree bound friend. "You say the sweetest things, Fang."

Inuyasha laughed briefly before signaling everyone to move forward. Kagome walked forward once again. She followed the flashes of silver she saw through the trees until their guide seemed to remember that she was leading them and he didn't actually know where they were going.

Kagome chuckled softly as she passed under the branch Inuyasha was on. He was acting as if he was getting a lay of the land and maybe he was as far as she knew.

"So, Princess Kagome, how is it that I am alive to have the pleasure of the princes carrying me around." Miroku joked as Koga growled lightly over his shoulder. "What? I thought I'd have to be dead before you two would carry me anywhere."

"You can walk any time, Monk." Koga warned.

"Not if you want to make good time. Which he always wants to make good time." Miroku threw his thumb back Inuyasha's direction before looking more towards Kagome. He noticed she had changed clothes and was leading their way somewhere. His mind wasn't wanting to take in land marks and honestly he could fall asleep again but he didn't like them being so vulnerable. The sooner he got his blood flowing and his legs moving the better shape they'd be in. "Princess Kagome." He called in a sing song voice. "Will you please answer me?"

Kagome sighed, she knew what Miroku was doing. She imagined they were all like this, but he needed rest not action. Still, maybe he'd realize how much he needed rest if talking began to tire him.

"You were poisoned. I have been trained as a healer, so I did what I could to dull the poison and control your fever."

"Just where did you have herbs hidden at that could do those things." Miroku questioned as his head leaned sideways examining the princess' body. Her new green gown was far more form fitting than the clothing they had borrowed from Sango, even if it did have a flowing movement to it.

A dark growl from above snapped the monk up straight as Kagome turned to look up at Inuyasha curiously. "Move on." He demanded.

She shrugged and began walking again. "The forest is full of herbs for healing." Kagome could sense he was about to start knit picking so she held up her hand to stop him. "I had to use some of my magic. First I used it to get the herbs you needed immediately, then I used it to call..." Kagome thought about how best to explain what she had already been over and now just didn't feel like the time. "I had to call a friend who is a far better healer than I will ever be. She saved your life."

"I own her my thanks." Miroku said. He knew that Suikotsu wore poison on the faux claws he carried. All of the Band of Seven used some kind of trick. But then didn't they all, he pondered as he looked at his hand.

"You owe Inuyasha your thanks as well." Koga said.

Miroku's eyes doubled in size as horror spread over his face. "He didn't give me the kiss of life did he?"

Inuyasha cursed loudly as he slipped on his take off from the branch he was on. Correcting the problem he made it to the next branch without actually falling out of the trees but he knew Koga had hear. "Like I would risk putting my mouth on yours even to save you." He called out moving a little higher into the branches.

Miroku shrugged. It had been the only thing he could think of. "Well, why then?"

"The healer can read spirit energy. If someone has no hope in them then their energy becomes too low and they will not survive." Kagome explained before looking over her shoulder to Koga. She just didn't feel like it was her place to say what she had heard.

"You were giving up. Inuyasha reminded you about how that would devastate Sango, if you died out here, like that." Koga said lowly but not low enough that Miroku couldn't hear.

Miroku understood, the guilt he was caring around about this mission had been such a weight on his soul it had tried to drag him on to hell. Looking up into the branches Mirkou saw a glimpse of Inuyasha jumping from branch to branch. The dog prince had shown more of his true colors. Colors that only Miroku and Koga had seen over the last four years. He was compassionate and cared deeply for people who were important to him. He sure as shit didn't show that side often.

Miroku looked a head at the princess walking carelessly through the forest. He wasn't sure what Inuyasha was trying to do about her. He had never really been a save the girl type of guy. There were several kidnappings under their belts that proved that, still there was something about this girl that was different.

"We can rest up ahead." Kagome said as she effortlessly walked through the forest. She could feel her parents home growing closer but at the pace they needed to take it would definitely be the next morning before they arrived.

In the desert...

Wiping the bar down for the fifth time in, well she wasn't sure how many minutes, Sango let her mind drift. She had watched the sun rise from the roof that morning. It had been beautiful, as always, as it grew out of the far East. She had spent a great deal of time up there since Miroku had left.

"That damn fool." She grumbled as she threw her rag into the wash water.

Grabbing a tray she walked out through the tables collecting empty glasses along her way. She usually didn't do that kind of work. She had plenty of girls who worked there insuring she never actually had to be out among the tables, honestly she didn't even need to behind the bar. The clients her tavern attracted had the tendency to be a little grabby making her have the tendency to get a little violent.

It's hard to keep a bar if you are constantly breaking fingers, wrists, arms, and so on. Mercs were actually more sensitive than you would think when they get hurt by a girl. Still they knew better than to get too grabby with her girls. The moth from a few nights ago had been the most aggressive male she'd had in the bar in a long time.

"Did you hear about what happened to the Band of Seven?" A tall man said as he sat down at a table with two others. He wasn't young, definitely seasoned in the life of the desert. He had on the same tan colored clothing most people in the desert had and a few knives hanging from his belt. He was clearly human but not one she had seen in her place before.

Mercenaries were as bad as old maids when it came to gossip. Sango rolled her eyes as she worked at the table next to the group of men. She realized she had never seen any of them before and most of the patrons in her bar were regulars. Everybody has a favorite watering hole.

"Yea, I heard they were taken out by Steel Fang and his men." A younger man at the table said as he pulled the bandana off the lower part of his baby smooth face.

If it wasn't for her reflexes Sango would have dropped the glass she had just picked up. She moved slower to get the rest of the stuff off the table as she listened carefully.

"I heard Fang went off the reservation. Stole an asset from his employer. So far he and his men have killed Gatenmaru and the bandits that were with him as well as the Band of Seven." The third man said as he looked at his mug of beer. He was shorted than the other two and clearly the youngest as he spoke animatedly about what he had heard.

The tall man across from him laughed, "That moth couldn't have been that hard to take out no matter how many men he had hired.".

"I need a refill, miss." The baby faced man said reaching out to smack Sango on the ass. The sound of a chain whistling through the air was the only warning the guy had before his arm was tangled up and then his shoulder dislocated.

Sango turned around to the table as the guy howled in pain about his arm.

"Trust me, dude, your life isn't worth one lousy drink." The playful voice coming from the doorway drew Sango's attention there.

Smiling softly she watch the shadow fade away as her kid brother stepped into the bar. "It's not nice to injure the customers." Sango said as she finished stacking the glasses.

"Even if he was about to grab your butt?" Kohaku asked with a laugh as he walked over to untangle his chain from the man's arm.

Sango glared at the man behind her before growling out that she would be back with their drinks.

Kohaku smiled until his sister walked away, then he leveled the men at the table with a glare. "She is the Cursed One's woman. I'd hate to have to let him know what about happened."

The oldest man laughed at the younger male. "The Cursed One has a lot of women. What makes one bar wench special?"

Kohaku's brown eyes glowed with mischief, "You see that scar peeking out of the back of her shirt?", he whispered while Sango had her back turned. The men stared at the scar that was angry and old but more importantly should have taken her life. It had clearly been a deep wound that was directly over her heart.

"Who could have done that to her?" The youngest man asked as his friend nodded dumbly cradling his shoulder.

The sound of Kohaku's chain brought their attention back to him and the one with the dislocated shoulder nearly fell out of his chair when he caught sight of the sickle in the kids hand. "I did."

"Then why didn't the Cursed One kill you?" The man on the floor asked as he paled a bit.

Kohaku cracked a vicious smile at the three men. " 'Cause I'm her brother."

It was then that Sango's identity dawned on the men, after all any mercenary worth his salt had heard the story. They didn't spare Sango an other glance as they scampered around Kohaku and ran out of the door.

Sango arrived back at the table in time to see the men running out her bar doors. "Kohaku." She said in an annoyed tone. "What did I tell you about scaring away the patrons?"

Kohaku laughed full and loud as he followed his sister to the bar. "Those men were scum. You don't need them in here."

"Kohaku," Sango said as she raised her eyebrow towards her kid brother, "look around.".

"I know, Sis." He said shaking his head at how far he felt his sister had fallen. "They're just a job. His busted shoulder will buy me sometime to chat with you before they get to the next town." Kohaku grabbed the beer that had been meant for the men who had left and took a generous swig. "Besides you have that stupid no fighting rule."

Sango crossed her arms across her stomach as her brown eyes discretely scanned the bar room. "What really brings you here, Kohaku? You aren't here for some penny-anti job you grabbed at some bounty board down the street."

Kohaku laughed as he pointed his finger at Sango, "If people knew who you really were piss-ants like that wouldn't show up here and need run off.". Kohaku ignored his sister's glare as he took another swig from the beer in his hand.

 **A/N: I thought it would be nice to take a trip to see Sango as I try to get this on the way. Clearly I did not fit in the entire day that I wanted. That's alright though in my mind I think I have this close to wrapped up. I at least know where we are going! I'm not going to lie though Kohaku showing up in the fic was as much a surprise to me as it may have been to you guys!**

 **Thank you to all that are hanging on waiting to see where this is actually going! Thank you to every one who leaves a review. I'm trying to get this finished up.**

 **I scanned back through this one and all I can say is that I'm SO SORRY for the horrible grammar and as soon as I get this all sewed up I will give the entire thing a re-edit to grab all the bad spots.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: So I don't think there will be any big surprises in this chapter. We are getting closer to the end. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!**

 **I had started this chapter around September I think and now this is December! I am very sorry that it has taken me so long to continue my work. I had actually been editing this a few days ago and needed to go back one chapter to check something...well for those who read the first posting of chapter 6 I can not apologize enough for the horrible grammar. Anytime anyone spots problems like that I do not mind if you let me know. There is so much that gets missed when I edit that I don't mind them being pointed out. Any-whoo I went back and fixed all I found in chapter 6 and will edit the other chapters soon out of worry they have bad spots too. Okay back on track, I have a good idea of where everything is going with this one so lets see if we can finish it up soon!**

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the manga/anime characters. However any original characters in this fic belong to me.

 **Chapter 7**

Sango watched her kid brother take another drink from the beer before setting it down and sitting himself down on one of the bar stools.

"Word's out, San. Your Cursed One and his gang are on the war path. The employer who hired them is stacking up mercs to get back what they took from him." Kohaku watched every detail on his sister's face but she was a pro and wasn't giving anything away. "People are saying they took out the entire Band of Seven in a single stand off just inside of the Eastern Forest."

Sango fished out a new rag and went back to work on the bar top. She thought about the things she had just heard before her brother showed up, in his usual out-of-the-blue fashion.

It was her tell. The young male knew it, something he said had agitated her. He had been watching her most of the morning as she repeatedly washed the bar top as she had been grumbling to herself. "It hasn't had a chance to get dirty since you cleaned it last, Sis. What do you know about this job they took?" Kohaku asked laying his hand on top of his sister's.

The tavern owner stopped her senseless cleaning and looked at her younger brother. She always wanted to see him as the sweet kid he had been, but things had happened that had changed them both. He wasn't a kid anymore. At seventeen years old he was as much a man as any other male in her bar. The desert aged you, the lives lived out here aged you. Kohaku was his own man and she was powerless to stop it. Still it didn't change the fact that there were things she wished he wasn't involved with.

"You know that even if I knew all the details I can't say. It's not my place." Sango gently pulled her hand from under his and topped off his beer. "Why are you so curious? You've never cared before about what he's out doing, so why now?"

Kohaku laughed lightly with a shrug as he took the offered beer. "I got a call yesterday morning. Nothing detailed. Names, last known locations, and a description of an asset to be handed over." He stopped there because relative or not, there were things he and Sango didn't share with each other any more.

Sango placed her hands on the bar leaning towards her brother waiting for more.

"Fang, Howl, and the Cursed One have officially made the top of the mercenary's most wanted list and not in a good way." The young man laughed to himself looking down into his beer, as if there was a good way to be on the top of any of those lists. "The Eastern Forest is about to be swarmed with idiots itching to make a name for themselves." Lifting his gaze to meet his sister's he let the playfulness drain away from his features. "That girl is about to have a whole lot more trouble than she did before."

"Well good luck to whoever thinks they'll get the drop on the Steel Fang and his men. They aren't the best for nothing." Sango said while reaching into the sink behind the bar. She couldn't let her brother see the worry in her eyes. The princess had seemed sweet and even though Fang wasn't going to do anything to her that didn't mean other mercenaries wouldn't. Most employers didn't care about condition they just cared about delivery. She began scrubbing at the mugs that had been dumped in there earlier as if it were incredibly interesting.

"Tell me what the royal guard of the Eastern Forest was doing here?" Kohaku pushed as he studied his sister's aggravated body language.

Sango grabbed a new mug and began cleaning the outside. "The guard was all over the place a few days ago. We got a visit just like everyone else in town, just like every other town in the desert."

He admired his sister, he always would, but he needed her to spill something. He needed more information than what he had been given and he knew his sister had it. "What did they find here that made them all leave the desert?"

Well that did it, she dropped the glass she was washing and it shattered on the floor. The suddenness of the sound got the attention of everyone in the damn room. Many of them turned from what they were doing to look Sango's way.

"Back to your own damn business." The owner called out angily. "You!" She pointed to her brother. "You're gonna pay for that."

Kohaku threw enough money on the bar to cover the beers and broken glass before he stood up. "If I had thought your skills were that far gone I'd have caught it for you." He finished his beer in a few gulps. "That was all the answer I needed though. I've gotta go."

It really had been what he needed. The demon who hired him was after the Eastern Forest princess. Why? He still didn't have that part figured yet. But he knew why he had been hired, his target wasn't the girl it was Fang and his men. The employer had actually wanted the fate of the girl left in the hands of someone else entirely, not that it needed to be his concern

"Kohaku, wait." Sango said as she stepped out from behind the bar. "Don't do this."

"It's just a job, Sango. Nothing personal." Pulling a sand mask over the bottom half of his face he hid what may have been a sad smile. He didn't want to bring his sister more pain but the cards had never really been dealt in their favor anyways. He nodded solemnly towards Sango before he pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and walked out of the door into the golden light of the late afternoon sun.

That was it, he was gone. Sango watched her brother walk out of her life once again. Slamming her rag into the dish water she told her led bar tender that she was going on break. Storming into her office she slammed the door.

The room felt like no more than a closet with everything she had in it. She had an old wooden chair at a small desk that was half covered in papers, a file cabinet, a back window, and a ceiling fan. Plopping down into her chair she leaned her head back and threw her arm over her eyes. She wanted to scream, but you didn't do shit like that in the desert.

Sliding her arm off her eyes she glanced to the left, there she was met with the sight of her old weapon. It was tucked away in the corner of the small space between the filing cabinet and the back corner. The light of the late afternoon gleamed off of the dust covered bone. She was ashamed that she had allowed her Hiraikotsu to get in the condition that it was in. Sliding her arm back over her eyes she sighed. Even though she was upset with its condition she wouldn't pick it up and clean it. She never wanted to touch that weapon again.

That was why she was a tavern owner. The last time she had used that weapon she had vowed it would be the last time. That night had been the end of everything she had ever known, revenge can be bittersweet like that.

Sango rested her arm on her forehead as she stared at the slow whirling fan on her ceiling. She didn't want to but she knew she couldn't stop it, so she remembered, she remembered it all.

Sango and her brother were descended from the first mercenaries the realm had even known. Assassins by birthright, she and her brother had been trained in the same ways that their family had trained for generations. Demons were their specialty, so others gave them the title of Slayer. They wore it proudly. Her family had believed that any fool could kill a mere human, so killing demons gave them an edge others didn't have in the beginning. Now a days the special training just made her brother more efficient than others.

When she had been eleven she was on the fast track to being the best her family had seen in close to a hundred years. At sixteen she had passed the skill level of her deceased mother and was not showing any signs of slowing down. It was around that time that her immediate family and some of their closest partners took on a job out of the South. The old lord had called them to his property to discuss what the job would involve.

That night Sango's father had said something felt off. They had checked the guy out a head of time and checked the perimeter when they arrived. Her father had told their partners to stand watch at the gate as he, Sango, and Kohaku walked further into the court yard. The minute they stepped into the middle of the court yard they realized how fucked they were.

The ambush came from all sides as the old lord's guards poured out of the surrounding house like sand. Screams from outside of the wall drew Sango's attention there. Fire birds had ambushed the men there, she could see them over the wall as they dove on the men there again and again.

She fought through the guards coming towards her as she rushed back to the gate thinking she could somehow help the men there. She could still see the fire, brighter than any flame she had ever seen before, and burning hotter than any fire she had ever been near. Their screams of pain and shouts of trying to still fight echoed in her mind. It was something she would never get rid of.

It was the sound of her father crying out that had stopped her rush for the others. Sango turned quickly, her long brown hair covering her eyes for a moment as it tried to keep up with her movement. When her view was clear there was her father, the biggest human man she had even known, on his knees. Her brother was behind him, ripping his sickle out of the lethal wound that had killed their father almost instantly.

She was in shock, frozen to the spot, and then Kohaku turned on her. The remaining guards around them had stopped attacking, clearly waiting for the two to finish each other off. Sango defended herself as she assessed the situation. It didn't take her long to recognize a demonic possession. Deciding quickly she threw Hiraikotsu just enough to knock the wind from Kohaku and put him on his ass. She thought she had bought enough time, scanning the area quickly she tried to find the source of his possession. The pain between her shoulder blades was sudden and intense. Sango had never felt so much pain in her life as she had the moment Kohaku's sickle killed her.

Everything after that was a blur to her, but Kohaku told her everything as he remembered it. The demon had lifted the spell on her brother. Clearly the creature that thought that the young boy would be so distressed by his actions that he would end his own life and be done with it. However that's not what happened at all. Seeing his father dead and his sister with his weapon still in her back, it broke something in the eleven year old boy's mind. He went on a murderous spree with their father's weapon. After the remaining guards were finished Kohaku went to retrieve his own weapon, that was when he realized Sango wasn't dead.

She didn't know where he found the strength, but he carried her out of that blood cover courtyard. Kohaku loaded her into the only surviving vehicle and drove her back to the desert. He had found a hospital close to the edge of the desert, right over the border with the South. They removed his sickle and some how were able to save her life.

Sango felt the tears run down her cheeks as she blinked a few times. After she healed, she and her brother had gone back to the estate in the South. She had taken her weapon, she had taken her revenge. Kohaku and Sango had murdered the entire household. No one had been safe and in the morning there was nothing but ashes left of the once large estate.

Rumors flew after that. It was quickly known that the Kuwashima's had been tricked. That the young son of the great Colin Kuwashima murdered his father and tried to kill his sister. Every bastard with a grudge wanted to hire them thinking they were the strongest, most ruthless, mercenaries in the entire realm. After all how heartless do you have to be to kill your family, or try to at least, and in the same turn how crazy must a person be to work with the same person who murdered your father and tried to kill you?

Sango stood up and wiped her face. She had used the money she had saved from previous jobs to buy a dive bar and fix it up. She hung up her Hiraikotsu and abandoned her last name. Kohaku though, well something had snapped inside of him that night. The once sweet boy, who wasn't really cut out for the life, suddenly couldn't do anything else. She saw it in his eyes there would never be any peace for him. Killing others was the only thing that blocked out the death of the one he had never wanted to kill.

Walking to the window Sango pulled the blind closed on the falling night. She had been on break long enough. Her girls knew this is what happened every time her brother popped in, still she couldn't help but worry and wonder about this job he had taken. Was he really heading to the East? Eyeing her weapon once more, she decided she'd keep her ears open before she did anything she would regret. She would also call Miroku. It wasn't something she usually did so that alone would be enough of a warning.

In the Eastern Forest...

"How much longer?" Inuyasha asked as he carried Miroku behind Kagome. It had been hours since they had stopped last. He didn't need a break but Miroku needed to stretch his legs as often as they could afford. The Monk had insisted that he could walk with a little assistance but Inuyasha and Koga had been in agreement that they didn't want the tracks showing one of them injured.

"There is a cave up ahead that we can use for the night. It is still about ten miles to Dryades and we should not walk the forest at night with someone injured." Kagome said calmly as she looked about the darkening forest.

Inuyasha had the sense the she was using Miroku as an excuse to stop for such a long period of time. He wasn't sure what she was going to get out of stopping but he imagined he'd find out soon enough.

Koga moved up along side the princess, "Are you sure there's no other way?".

Kagome looked over into his curious face. "I'm sure that if Miroku is to rest properly for the night that he will be moving on his own by first light and more able to fight."

It wasn't the answer any of them were looking for but it was a good one. All of the men knew it had been luck that they had traveled the entire day without being ambushed. Tomorrow they might not be so lucky. Their previous employer had to know by now that the Band of Seven had failed. He was sure to hire others and they were sure to be on the look out near the capital, well the smart ones anyways. The other ones, well they would most likely still be searching the desert.

Before anyone could say anything else the phone in the bag started to ring. It rang twice before it was silent then it rang once more before silence again. The males shared a look of curious worry before Koga dug the phone out and by the time it rang again he answered it.

Kagome found it odd that he said nothing when he answered but she could hear the voice on the other end start almost immediately. Koga didn't give any clue to the conversation as he listened stoically for a brief time before hanging up.

"52.6 seconds." Inuyasha said slightly impressed. "The desert rose has a new record for such a lengthy message."

"Huh?" Kagome said before the nickname clicked. It had been how he had referred to Sango when he complimented her about the rooms. It had her worried that after being so casual they were back to codes and names. Instead of asking any questions she walked passed the men to led the rest of the way to the cave.

In the Eastern palace...

Daphne sat in her sitting room that had been over run with the forest. She was fairly sure she would not be changing the area back once Kagome came home. A vine from her new throne curled up her arm and around her wrist as if it agreed with the queen's plan.

Sitting in the still quiet of nature she could hear the nymphs and creatures that spirited about the grounds. It would be a lie on her part to say she didn't miss being out among them. She had known she would be giving up a lot of her world for the sake of being the Queen of the land, still in the beginning she had done well being out among her people. However after Kagome was born she spent more time in the human capital. Her father's death had always been one of the reasons. When Kagome turned three her powers over the forest were unquestionable and she did begin spending time in the forest near the palace with her daughter by her side. Slowly over time they began visiting the entire unseen kingdom but visiting and dwelling in were two very different things.

Haru stood in the doorway to his wife's sitting room, watching Daphne as she absentmindedly made the scenery in the room change with her thoughts.

Flowers bloomed and changed colors, they spread along the floor and up the walls. Many creatures peaked in at her in awe and wonder. He was also one who was amazed by her and her power. She was every bit as glorious as she had been when he had stumbled in on her celebration.

The king of the land turned from the room his queen resided and began to walk down the hall. His memory wished for freedom and he had time on the way to his counsel chamber. He remembered when he met Daphne. He had been young in his adult life and even younger in his kingship.

His father the king of the land, who had made the packed long ago, had died and his kingdom divided. Haro was given the land near the sea and Haru was given the great forest. Each son had grown up knowing the truth, knowing the people's who would share their kingdoms. Haru had been eager to meet the unseen but their king had forbidden any interactions with humans.

It had all been chance that the eerie sounds of the forest had called him from his new castle into the deep of the trees. Foolish curiosity had gotten the better of him since he hadn't had a chance to learn his lands before he took off into the night alone.

Haru laughed at his youthful ignorance as he turned down the corridor towards the chamber room. He had stumbled on to an equinox festival. There had been so many beautiful women dancing around but the one with the midnight hair had captured his attention. It wasn't until one of the males had kicked him from behind and knocked him into the clearing that he saw her true beauty.

The king took a breath with his hand on the door as he washed the memories of the past away. Daphne had saved him when the satyr would have killed him on the spot. That had sealed their fate and maybe the fates of their kingdoms. The next day he, Daphne, and the Sea Queen had made their blood oath to the pact. The next year his brother and his new wife along with Haru and his new wife, Daphne, made the oath. They had all continued the tradition until their daughters came of age and began making the blood oath themselves. Had they been wrong to bind their daughters to the pact, to the kingdoms the way they had been?

Haru had a sorrowful look on his face as he entered his counsel chamber, but it was to be expected with everything happening.

"Sirs, I would like to speak with you about the information brought to me about Kagome and what may pass if she does not return." Movement at the Western window drew the King's attention there.

"This one, shall also hear what has been learned." The Lord of the West said as he moved to a vacant seat at the counsel table.

In the Eastern Forest...

Koga had figured what the princess had been doing when she walked away from the males. He had situated the bag so that he could follow behind Inuyasha and Miroku. "She seems to be a quick study." Koga growled out lowly for Inuyasha to hear as the troupe walked up the slight incline.

Inuyasha had noticed it too. Kagome had caught the nickname and instead of littering the air with her questions she decided to finish getting them out of the open. Though he was sure there would be questions when they got to the cave.

Miroku didn't say a thing as they moved quickly and quietly through the thick forest. It was more that he couldn't stop the thoughts in his head long enough to think of something to say that was relevant. Sango never called, never unless there was something truly wrong.

Kagome lead the group further up the gradual incline before disappearing behind a line of shrubbery. Inuyasha furrowed his brow and walked around the growth himself. There in front of him was a large cave face. The left side was partly covered in vines hiding old writing he didn't recognize.

"What's this place?" He asked standing at the mouth of the cave.

"Afraid?" Kagome's voice teased from farther inside the cave.

Inuyasha growled towards her voice. He wasn't fucking scared, "Cautious.", that's what he was. He didn't trust her forest after what he saw. The magic here was far from dead as the rest of the realm believed.

"No need to fear, brave, Steel Fang." Kagome said as she stepped out of the darkness holding an unlit torch. "This place and its magic have long been forgotten."

Koga stepped up to the mischievous princess and lit the torch she held. "Let's get inside if we're going."

Kagome smiled softly at Koga before narrowing her eyes and sticking her tongue out at Inuyasha again. Then she quietly turned and led the way into the cavern. She spoke softly with Koga as he kept her pace. She told him of the carvings that lined the cave, the words at the entrance...

It all faded out for Inuyasha as he followed a few paces behind.

"Do you think she knows what she's doing? Making those faces at you, I mean." Miroku questioned aloud as he watched the young woman in front of them walk on with all the confidence in the world.

The hanyou mercenary grunted as he walked on in silence for a moment. "She fucking knows." He grumble as the pair in front of them stopped and the princess lit a fire in the fire pit that laid in the center of the large chamber.

Six statues were immediately illuminated. Each was seven feet tall, they were giants leaning against the walls and made hunched over so that the roof was resting on their shoulders as they circled the space. Broken stone benches were against a couple of the far walls and there was more darkness passed Kagome's shoulder.

"What was this place?" Miroku asked as Inuyasha sat him near the fire.

Kagome's eyes glanced around. "It's just a forgotten temple, the same as anywhere in the realm." She shrugged as she sat down on the cave floor and motioned Miroku closer. "I will tell you more about here while I reapply your dressing after you tell me about you."

Miroku frowned as he slowly walked over to the princess. "Umph." He grunted as he sat down. "Why me?" He asked pulling his shirt over his head. "Surely Inuyasha or Koga interest you more."

Kagome began undressing the wound on the man's back. He was right Inuyasha was very interesting to her but he was playing this 'I'm ignoring you game'. Plus she did find Miroku a mystery. He reminded her of a traveling monk who stopped in the East many times when she was very little. "Where do you hail from? What lands are yours?"

"Who have I betrayed you mean?" Miroku asked in a mocking tone as he looked to Koga and Inuyasha on the other side of the fire. Inuyasha was laying down as if the whole thing bored him and Koga leaned against a rock watching the other two.

"That's not what I meant at all. " Kagome rolled her eyes even though she was were he couldn't see her.

"It's ok, Princess. I come from the dessert. My village was known as Altis. Its attractions are the same as every where in the desert," Miroku looked over his shoulder, "gambling, liquor, and whores."

Kagome's hand froze in their spot for a moment, the wrap falling from her hands to the cave floor. The desert made her uncomfortable and that had only gotten worse since being there.

"The desert's a dirty place, Lady Kagome." Miroku said stretching while he didn't have the wrap on his back. "Do you still want to know?" He asked his violet eyes searching hers.

Kagome signaled for the pack Koga had. The wolf Prince obliged by walking it over to her. "Thank you." She said softly as she dug through the weapons, carefully. "Please continue. What was your childhood like growing up in the desert?"

Kagome gently turned Miroku back around. She wasn't going to lose a test of wills. They were just stories, she could listen to a story.

Miroku shrugged the best he could as the princess began applying a suave to his wounds. "Like a said I grew up in a small town called Altis. It is much deeper in to the desert than Acadia. It was once famous throughout the desert for two reasons, it held the largest gambling house in all the realm and out-lands!" Miroku said waving his left arm wide, since Kagome was wrapping some gauze around his right shoulder. "But more importantly it was the home base of the Slayers, the strongest and largest group of mercenaries the realm had ever had the pleasure to fear."

Kagome's hands stilled in their movement again. "Slayers?" She questioned before getting back to her work.

The three men looked at her in shock. To Miroku who grew up in the same town as the group their greatness was easily known, for the two princes who grew up in demonic kingdoms the Slayers were a legend told in fear to the young. Still as they watched Kagome look up into their curious faces it was clear she wasn't joking. The name Slayers meant nothing to her.

"Oh wait!" She exclaimed suddenly, catching them of guard in her excitement. "Didn't you refer to Sango as Miroku's Slayer when we were on our way to Acadia?"

Inuyasha laughed lightly as he laid back down on the floor. Looking at the giant who hovered above him, holding the ceiling, then he realized the truth. "You were never told to fear the Slayers when you were young because you have peace and few demons here." Inuyasha lulled his head to the side to gaze at Kagome. "Am I right?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes briefly at the smug prince. "I was told only to fear the desert and mercenaries in general, not any specific group. I can not say what the children in the villages were told but until this week the unseen never cared one way of the other about who was in the desert."

" Feh, there's a fucking mistake. " Inuyasha snorted looked back to the ceiling.

"Why?" Kagome snapped back full of fire. "Why is it a mistake to not bother the young with fear of those who can never harm them?"

Inuyasha turned cold gold eyes towards the princess, the fire was had no warming effect on them as they bore into her. "How were they prepared when we stole their princess? How would they be prepared if I planned a full scale invasion? I could father an army to wipe out the forest and their power without them seeing a fucking thing and they are unprepared to fight back."

Fear. It was the only thing Kagome could feel at that moment. A cold fear running down her spine and settling in her gut making her feel sick. He was right. She hated that. But hate it or not that didn't change it, her mother's people were mostly unprepared for anything like that.

Still she hardened her gaze to match her words as she looked to the demon prince. "Do not betray me, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha saw in her eyes what she could bring herself to say. 'If I fear you will, you'll never leave this forest alive.' He didn't know why she couldn't say it but he got the message loud and clear. Smirking he nodded his head to her before turning back to the ceiling. "We seem to have gotten of topic." She said her tone of voice calm and cheerful once again. "Miroku, I believe you were about to tell us of your colorful childhood."

"Yes." Miroku agreed, ready to move on. "My mother was one of the favorite girls at the gambling house called Mesyoung. Mesyoung is one of the biggest buildings in the desert. Height wise it is no bigger Jitaku, but length wise. Length wise it is a sprawling labyrinth of wonders."

Kagome couldn't help smiling as she heard the admiration in his voice. Tapping him lightly she signaled that he was done and let him turn around.

Miroku shrugged his arm a bit seeing how much movement he was allowed with the new dressing. Soon he was satisfied and turned to face Kagome so he could continue. "Mesyoung is as long as the West wing of your father's palace and as wide if you include the middle court." Kagome raised an eyebrow questionably at the man in front of her. Laughing Miroku raised his hands to stop her questions. "In time, your highness."

Kagome still was unsettled by how confident this mercenary seemed in comparing the measurements of her home with a place he clearly knew well but she allowed him to continue.

"For a bit, growing up there it was a magical palace filled with beautiful women. Even though my mother had me, she never lost her favor with men. In fact many of the men would stay with us and play "family" until she would tell them they had to move on. While they were there they tried to teach me useful things. It didn't matter to me when they had to go, mother and the other girls made sure I knew that the men were never staying. But more importantly they made it clear to everyone, including the owner, that I was off limits. "

"Why would they need to make that clear? You were just a little boy."

Miroku tried not to show Kagome the pity he felt for her blissful ignorance of life outside of the royal court, hell ignorance of the hidden life inside the court. "It was a whore house, Kagome, everyone works or they don't eat." He saw that she was about to say something but he wasn't in the mood for the moral debate, so he quickly pressed on. "Since it was also a gambling house I was able to start waiting tables when I was six. Most of the regulars got a kick out of me. They taught me the tricks of their trades or at least the less deadly ones until I was older." Miroku reached out and pulled a rose from Kagome's hair.

Instinctively Kagome grabbed her hair where he had reached. "How-", she began as he handed her the beautiful, blue rose.

"Just a trick." Miroku answered. "That's a blue death rose. They are a genetically modified rose that had been the trade mark of a female slayer name Leela. She left them on the doorsteps or on the window sills of her marks ten hours before she would kill them."

"Why?" Kagome asked as she gently stroked the petals of the flower in her hand.

Miroku shrugged even though she wasn't watching. "Who knows. Psychological warfare most likely. Same reason we have the names we have, our mask, our jobs, our movements, all of it tells the mark who we are and sends them new fear."

"Did you know Leela?" Kagome questioned as she looked up from the flower in her hand.

"My mother hired her once. There was a man who would visit once or twice a month and he would take the youngest girls working." Miroku's eyes faded back to a time when he was around eleven years old. "The guy would demand they stay in his room but wouldn't provide food for the five days he stayed, they were rarely given water, and bathroom breaks were a gift. He never had sex with them he just starved them and beat them. Before you ask, he wasn't stopped because he was a wealthy man from the realm. He paid the house the same amount that they'd make in the entire month each visit. How could the owner refuse?"

Kagome shuddered at the thought but she knew her imagination couldn't do it justice.

"I walked in on the meeting my mom was having with Leela. The moment the door shut behind me there was a knife at my throat. It was the first time I met Sango." Miroku laughed roughly at Kagome's wide eyes look, as he rubbed the back of his head. "After my mother convinced them not to kill me, she walked around in front of me. Even though I could only see her eyes at the time I knew it was love.

"Anyways, she ended up being the one to carry out the mission. She sneaked into my room that night and gave me a rose. She told me they were wasted on the dead, the employer should enjoy them as a promise for the job getting done." Miroku smiled fondly at the roe in the young princess' hand. "The man was found dead at an inn in another town the next day. Poison had been ruled the cause of death but since his family hadn't wanted it to be known he had even been in the desert I'm sure another story was told in his home land."

"A true desert rose." Koga said with a smirk as he tended the fire.

Inuyasha nodded from his spot on the ground. "Well go on, finish it."

"Yea, yea, don't be jealous just cause she asked me." Miroku teased. "It was hard to keep me from the Slayers' side of town after that. Luckily Sango had been willing to see me. Time wore on and life was perfect. Perfect is a fleeting thing in the desert though, soon Leela passed away when a mysterious illness swept through Altis. Sango and her family mourned for a time and in a violent fashion but that was the way her people did things. After that everything was perfect again," Miroku's expression hardened as he turned his gaze towards the fire, "and then it wasn't. Sango hung up her weapon and moved to Acadia. I followed but ventured to the realm to make more money. There I met our charming hanyou friend here and then our charming wolf friend here, when he saved me from previous mentioned hanyou."

Koga and Inuyasha shared a small laugh and jabs at each other about who had really won their fight and who had really let the other off easy.

Kagome smiled as she listened to the pair quarrel...again. Miroku shifting in his seat caught her attention. "What about your father? Did you ever meet him?"

"Sure I meet him. He was some traveling monk who wandered the realm. He came before I turned eight to tell me this was on the way." Miroku held up his cursed hand hidden beneath the blessed glove. Kagome looked at the intricate design in the fire light. "It's a generational curse. Once it's big enough it'll swallow the host. His was nearly big enough when I met him. He gave me the information I needed and offered to take me with him. I gave him the old fuck off. Less than a year later this showed up. Luck my mother had made gloves like these and had a local priest bless them. She had made me wear them as soon as they were finished. If she hadn't planned a head my hand would have sucked up every person in Mesyoung." Miroku crunched his hand into a fist at the memory, the horror he felt at the true nature of his bloodline.

"Can nothing be done to stop it?" Kagome asked gently. "If it's a curse, is there not a way to break the curse?"

Miroku scratched the back of his head before pulling the tie that held his hair in place. The dark hair slowly rushed free falling around his face and shoulders. "The demon who cursed my grandfather has to die for the curse to be broken. The problem is I have no idea who that demon is or what kingdom it is from."

Kagome remained silent. She understood that it was meant to be the end of their talking on the subject. Her heart was sorrowful to Miroku's trouble, it made her wonder if that was why he lived the life he did instead of making a life and family with Sango. Even though she was curious, she wouldn't ask, it wasn't her place.

"Well, I have held up my end of the bargain, fair princess. Will you now tell us about this place you have brought us?" Miroku questioned as he stood and walked over to on of the large stone statues. "The carving on these stones is remarkable! Not a single tool mark to be seen."

"That's because they are not statues carved." Kagome said as she settled her dress more comfortably under her folded knees.

Inuyasha looked up at the statue that lingered above him. "What do you mean they aren't carved?"

"They are giants who's souls were once sacrificed to the forest." Kagome never changed the calm expression on her face as she stared into the fire burning in the ancient pit.

The three males around her looked at her in a bit of shock. The East was spoken of in the highest regards of peace, the idea that anyone was sacrificed here ever was mind boggling to them all. Koga was the first to find his voice on the matter and he asked what they were all thinking.

"Why were they sacrificed?"

At the edge of the Eastern Forest...

The king's guards had found the place that the satyr had spoken of, and there they found what could only be described as a battle worn jeep. Bullet holes, scorch marks, dents, and slashes that the men couldn't even think to explain. The forest around them however showed no signs of battle. If anything the forest around them seemed over grown. The tracks from where the jeep had entered from the desert were hard to see and the trees themselves bore no new scars. Some had bark that if you looked hard enough you could tell that something had once happened in the area but the time it would have taken for that growth to occur was not matching up with the time line.

"Are we sure this is the place?" A young solider final asked.

A satyr standing among them walked over to a place farther from the jeep. He stared at the ground. It annoyed him to have to search the forest with humans who didn't understand anything about the land they stood on. Could they not see the pain the trees had been in? Could they not feel the death the ground had swallowed? Did they not feel their princess' sorrow lingering in the air around them? "Yes." It was all he could say, they wouldn't understand if he tried to explain. To them he was simply part of a special guard trained in the forest for generations by the Queen's family. It was not fully a lie but it was not fully the truth so it was to complicated for them to understand. At least, that was how it seemed.

The men around him grumbled but he didn't care to listen. Suddenly there was a shift in the air around them, magic not of their kingdom hummed around the plants nearest to them. "Something is coming."

The guards all took up a defensive stand as they scanned the area with their eyes. Before any of them could react blades of wind sliced through the forest. They cut through the men and the trees alike, the men searched for something to fight but there was nothing! Nothing but murderous wind, blow after blow. The satyr was able to avoid the attacks by calling on the magic of his birth and vanishing into the surviving forest but he didn't have the power to save any of the men who had been with him. Screams filled the air before there was simply groans of pain and then silence.

He lingered close by even though it was against his better judgement. Slowly a large bird feather, like he had never seen, descended in to the new clearing. A beautiful woman stepped off of the feather, her bare feet walking over the dead as if they weren't there. The young satyr stared for a moment taking in her strange appearance. He had never seen a being with red eyes such as hers. Movement behind her caught his attention, on the feather was a hooded figure in a dark cloak and a young girl as pale as glass.

"There is one still alive." The young girl said softly.

Before the young satyr could panic a weapon on a chain sprung from the cloak and sliced into a man on the ground who had begun to try to crawl away after the young girl spoke. He couldn't understand what he was seeing. Were these people after his princess? He didn't know but he did realize that he needed to tell the Queen.

"I go on ahead. Signal the other idiots that this path is clear. Let them see if they can find the Steel Fang." The voice from the hood was clearly male but not as deep as he had heard older human males, still he wasn't sure that the male was human.

The satyr watched as the hooded figure took to the trees using his weapon. He had never seen a human move that quickly. This person jumped from branch to branch as if he had been on the same path his entire life. Curiosity is a troubling thing. The young satyr took of following the hooded figure deeper into the forest. Doing so he missed the hoard of men that stalked into the forest.

In the cave near the capital...

Inuyasha was sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded tightly as he glared across the fire at the princess. She had been telling them about the cave they were in and he didn't understand it at all, well he did, he wasn't an idiot. But she was speaking of a time of war in the Eastern Forest that had been lost to history for everywhere in the realm including the fucking East! How did that happen? She had said it was before the humans came to the area, before the demons had grown in strength to be more than small clusters of clans. She had called it a time when the people she referred to as the unseen were SEEN.

"The giants were the strongest of all the peoples in the forest but they were also the only ones who wanted peace. They made a plan, the six kings of the giants, they would tie the peoples of this place to the forest. Her life would be their life, her death would be their death. Their war would kill her or they would find peace, saving her thus would be saving themselves. It was an amazing plan but it required a great deal of power, and power like that has a great price." Kagome stopped for a moment as she looked at Inuyasha his annoyance was washing over her like waves, but she wasn't really sure why he was annoyed. They had asked so she was telling. After all she had told them when they arrived that the magic of this place had been long forgotten. "It was here in the center of the forest that the six giant kings hid away to perform their magic. It was complicated and changed everything about every creature in this forest from the moment they breathed their first word. When they were done satyrs and nymphs, fairies and gnomes, trolls and pixies, every being that dwelled in this forest that had the conscience will to fight was banished from normal sight. They became the dwellers of the in-between. Only time and peace would allow them more control over when they could be seen and when they would vanish.

"The kings souls were pulled from their bodies, the price the forest took in exchange for the arrangement. The bodies instantly turned to stone where they had leaned against the roof of the cave in their exhausting efforts. Life is always the cost for peace, but see there is no life here. No growth you would find in other caves, no animals seeking refuge here. Once the giants came to pay homage to their kings for their sacrifice but the giants have been gone for a very long time now. And war long forgotten in the East."

"So your people wiped this from their memories as they wiped the memory of them from the realm?" Inuyasha accused.

"I am of my people. The leaders are told, told so they will never let the sacrifice be in vain. So the people can live in peace." Kagome defended as she drew her fist to her chest. She didn't make these decisions. She didn't decide these things for her mother's people. She was born into this just like the rest of them! So why was he so angry at her?

"Feh!" Inuyasha spat as he stood up. "Come on, Koga, let's hunt before the monk starves to death over."

Koga nodded as he got up and the two demons walked out of the fire light without an other word.

Kagome felt like she had been smashed down to the size of a two inch pixie. How did his simple reaction make her feel so small?

"Don't mind him." Miroku's voice cut through her questioning. "From what I gather, his mother was always speaking highly of the peace in the East. She was also a avid student of the history of the realm and Inuyasha was right there with her learning everything about every where in every kingdom."

"Really?" Kagome questioned as she looked towards the entrance of the cave. "How do you know all of this? He hardly seems like the 'share my past type'."

"Ah, very true, my Lady. But we work in a profession where our very lives are dependent on each other. We have had or moments of sharing things from our pasts." Miroku allowed his eyes to look over the giants around them. Taking in the faces he hadn't focused on before. They held sorrow in their features but in the small smiles each of them had there seemed to be a glimmer of hope. "Everyone's past is filled with things that they keep to themselves. It is nearly impossible to know everything about anyone."

Kagome looked at the giants that were the secret past of her kingdom. The very pillars that her kingdom were founded on. Maybe if she lived through this, maybe she could change the things that just simply were part of their world in the East. First though she had to stop this demon so he never bothered her or her cousin's kingdoms ever again.

"I'm going to step out for some air."

Miroku moved as if he was going to get up and join her. She stopped him with a gently hand on his shoulder.

"The more rest you get now the sooner the strength you need will return. I'll just be at the front of the cave. It will be alright, we are safe here."

Miroku looked skeptical for a moment, then reasoned with himself that Inuyasha wasn't far and would follow her if she did decide to run off. It wasn't that they were determined to keep her but he was sure she wouldn't be safe out there on her own. Their previous employer surely had a different plan by now. "Alright, but just at the mouth of the cave."

Kagome nodded her agreement as the monk laid himself back to the resting position he had been in. She stood and carefully made her way out of the darkening cave. The sun was setting. It was the last day before the promise would be needed for the pact. Stepping out into the cooling evening air she shuddered but it had nothing to do with the temperature of the air. She had no idea how to do anything that she would need to do. She still had no clue who this demon was or what he was even capable of. All she knew was she had to be at the pact before him.

"You weren't thinking about running away were ya?"

 **A/N: OK one down...a few more to go. I'm very sorry to those reading this that I have taken so long to update, but such is life.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read and to everyone who reviews!**


End file.
